PhasevsPosseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,407
“Phase” frequency rank
#30,240
“Posse” frequency rank
32647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Phase Posse
Definition stetig verlaufender Entwicklungsabschnitt oder stetiger zeitlicher Ablauf Bühnenstück, das durch Verwechslungen, Übertreibungen und derbe Komik zum Lachen anregen soll

Where the eye mixes Phase and Posse

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

5 ch
Phase
5 ch
Posse

Why the eye confuses Phase with Posse

A purely visual mix-up. Phase ([ˈfaːzə]) and Posse ([ˈpɔsə]) 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 32647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Phase is recorded at frequency rank #2,407, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaːzə]. Posse is at rank #30,240, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔsə].

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 32647, this pair ranks #1,703,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Phase vs Posse

Shared letters: eps. Private to "Phase": ah. Private to "Posse": o.

"Phase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Posse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Phasehpase · pahse · phaes · phasse · phhase · phsae · pphase
  • Posseopsse · poses · poße · pposse · psose

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Phase" for "Posse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfaːzə] versus [ˈpɔsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Phase" or "Posse"?
"Phase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,407 in our German list, against #30,240 for "Posse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Phase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Posse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,703,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Phase" and "Posse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ponte vs Posse". 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 #1,703,117 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