PhobievsProbeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,137
“Phobie” frequency rank
#5,209
“Probe” frequency rank
45346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Phobie Probe
Definition krankhafte Angst; krankhafte Furcht; eine unbegründete, anhaltende Angst vor Situationen, Gegenständen, Tätigkeiten oder Personen das Einstudieren bei aufführenden Künsten

Where the eye mixes Phobie and Probe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Phobie runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against Probe's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Phobie
5 ch
Probe

Why the eye confuses Phobie with Probe

A purely visual mix-up. Phobie ([foˈbiː]) and Probe ([ˈpʁoːbə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Phobie is recorded at frequency rank #40,137, classified as anoun, pronounced [foˈbiː]. Probe is at rank #5,209, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpʁoːbə].

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 45346, this pair ranks #1,356,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Phobie vs Probe

Shared letters: beop. Private to "Phobie": hi. Private to "Probe": r.

"Phobie" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "Probe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Phobie ← hpobie · phboie · phhobie · phobbie · phobei · phoibe · pohbie · pphobie
  • Probe ← porbe · pprobe · prboe · probbe · proeb · prrobe · rpobe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Phobie" for "Probe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([foˈbiː] versus [ˈpʁoːbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Phobie" vs "Probe" - which ranks higher?
"Probe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,209 in our German list, against #40,137 for "Phobie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Phobie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Probe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,356,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Phobie" and "Probe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Phobie vs Phönix". 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 #1,356,157 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