petitvsPetrWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: petit is a adjective, Petr is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“petit” is an adjective and “Petr” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,068
“petit” frequency rank
#27,446
“Petr” frequency rank
51514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature petit Petr
Definition klein, gering tschechischer männlicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes petit and Petr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
petit
4 ch
Petr

Why the eye confuses petit with Petr

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: petit is [pə.ti] while Petr is [pɛtr̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

petit is recorded at frequency rank #24,068, classified as anadj, pronounced [pə.ti]. 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 51514, this pair ranks #1,132,588 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of petit vs Petr

Shared letters: ept. Private to "petit": i. Private to "Petr": r.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • petiteptit · peitt · petitt · petti · pettit · ppetit · pteit
  • Petreptr · pert · petrr · pettr · ppetr · pter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "petit" and "Petr" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "petit" is an adjective and "Petr" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "petit" or "Petr" show up more?
"petit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,068 in our German list, against #27,446 for "Petr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "petit" 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 #1,132,588 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "petit" 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 #1,132,588 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