PfotevsposteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#40,136
“Pfote” frequency rank
#13,669
“poste” frequency rank
53805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pfote poste
Definition (mit Ausnahme der Huftiere – vom Rind, Schaf, Schwein abgesehen, deren Extremitäten gelegentlich »Pfoten« anstatt »Klauen« genannt werden – und Primaten) bei landlebenden Säugetieren (zumeist Raubtieren) in Zehen gespaltenes Ende der Extremitäten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs posen

Where the eye mixes Pfote and poste

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

5 ch
Pfote
5 ch
poste

Visual trap between Pfote and poste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pfote is [ˈp͡foːtə] while poste is [ˈpoːstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pfote is recorded at frequency rank #40,136, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈp͡foːtə]. poste is at rank #13,669, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpoːstə].

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 53805, this pair ranks #1,043,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pfote vs poste

Shared letters: eopt. Private to "Pfote": f. Private to "poste": s.

"Pfote" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "poste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pfotefpote · pffote · pfoet · pfotte · pftoe · pofte · ppfote
  • posteopste · poset · posste · potse · pposte · psote

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Pfote" and "poste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Pfote" is a noun and "poste" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Pfote" vs "poste" - which ranks higher?
"poste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,669 in our German list, against #40,136 for "Pfote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Pfote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,043,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pfote" and "poste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pfote vs ponte". 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 #1,043,553 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