pesvsponsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pes is a verb, pons is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pes” is a verb and “pons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,402
“pes” frequency rank
#44,143
“pons” frequency rank
87545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pes pons
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs pesen Brücke, Steg über einen Fluss, Morast oder Ähnliches

Letter map: pes vs pons

Shared letters muted; letters that set pes and pons apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. pes runs 3 letters (CVC) against pons's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
pes
4 ch
pons

Grammar separator: pes vs pons

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pes is averb and ponsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pes is recorded at frequency rank #43,402, classified as averb, pronounced [peːs]. pons is at rank #44,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 87545, this pair ranks #79,053 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pes vs pons

Shared letters: ps. Private to "pes": e. Private to "pons": no.

"pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pons ← opns · pnos · ponns · ponss · posn · ppons

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pes" and "pons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pes" is a verb and "pons" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pes" vs "pons" - which ranks higher?
"pes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,402 in our German list, against #44,143 for "pons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "pes" vs "pons" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,053 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pes" and "pons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pons vs puzzles". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #79,053 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list