PetitionvsPositionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,117
“Petition” frequency rank
#1,239
“Position” frequency rank
9356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Petition Position
Definition schriftliches Gesuch (Bitte, Beschwerde) an das Staatsoberhaupt, das Parlament oder eine Behörde Ort, Standort

Where the eye mixes Petition and Position

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
Petition
8 ch
Position

Why the eye confuses Petition with Position

A purely visual mix-up. Petition ([petiˈt͡si̯oːn]) and Position ([poziˈt͡si̯oːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Petition is recorded at frequency rank #8,117, classified as anoun, pronounced [petiˈt͡si̯oːn]. Position is at rank #1,239, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poziˈt͡si̯oːn].

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 9356, this pair ranks #1,980,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Petition vs Position

Shared letters: inopt. Private to "Petition": e. Private to "Position": s.

"Petition" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "Position" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Petitioneptition · peittion · petiiton · petitino · petitionn · petitoin · petittion · pettiion
  • Positionopsition · poistion · posiiton · positino · positionn · positoin · posittion · possition

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Petition" and "Position" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([petiˈt͡si̯oːn] versus [poziˈt͡si̯oːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Petition" or "Position"?
"Position" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,239 in our German list, against #8,117 for "Petition". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Petition" and "Position" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Petition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Position" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Petition" and "Position" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Petition vs Petitionen". 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 #1,980,341 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