PetervsPetrWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Peter” and “Petr” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#674
“Peter” frequency rank
#27,446
“Petr” frequency rank
28120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Peter Petr
Definition männlicher Vorname tschechischer männlicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes Peter and Petr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Peter
4 ch
Petr

Why the eye confuses Peter with Petr

A purely visual mix-up. Peter ([ˈpeːtɐ]) and Petr ([pɛtr̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Peter is recorded at frequency rank #674, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈpeːtɐ]. Petr is at rank #27,446, tagged as aname, pronounced [pɛtr̩].

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 28120, this pair ranks #1,790,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Peter vs Petr

Shared letters: eprt. Private to "Peter": -. Private to "Petr": -.

"Peter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Petr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Peterepter · peetr · peterr · petre · petter · ppeter · pteer
  • Petreptr · pert · petrr · pettr · ppetr · pter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Peter" and "Petr" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpeːtɐ] versus [pɛtr̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Peter" or "Petr" show up more?
"Peter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #674 in our German list, against #27,446 for "Petr". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Peter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Petr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,790,210 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Peter" and "Petr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pein vs Petr". 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 #1,790,210 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