PfützenvsPutzeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,510
“Pfützen” frequency rank
#31,740
“Putze” frequency rank
77250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pfützen Putze
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Pfütze Putzfrau

Where the eye mixes Pfützen and Putze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Pfützen runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against Putze's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Pfützen
5 ch
Putze

Look-alike desk: Pfützen vs Putze

A purely visual mix-up. Pfützen ([ˈp͡fʏt͡sn̩]) and Putze ([ˈpʊt͡sə]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77250, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pfützen is recorded at frequency rank #45,510, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈp͡fʏt͡sn̩]. Putze is at rank #31,740, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpʊt͡sə].

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 77250, this pair ranks #265,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Pfützen vs Putze

Shared letters: eptz. Private to "Pfützen": fnü. Private to "Putze": u.

"Pfützen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "Putze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Putze ← pputze · ptuze · putez · puttze · putzze · puzte · uptze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pfützen" for "Putze" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈp͡fʏt͡sn̩] versus [ˈpʊt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pfützen" vs "Putze" - which ranks higher?
"Putze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,740 in our German list, against #45,510 for "Pfützen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pfützen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Putze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pfützen" and "Putze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pfütze vs Pfützen". 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 #265,054 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