pievsPikWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,870
“pie” frequency rank
#42,047
“Pik” frequency rank
66917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pie Pik
Definition ein herzhaftes oder würziges Gebäck, wie beispielsweise eine Pastete Farbe im französischen Kartenblatt mit einem schwarzen Lindenblatt als Symbol

Where the eye mixes pie and Pik

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
pie
3 ch
Pik

Look-alike desk: pie vs Pik

A purely visual mix-up. pie ([paɪ]) and Pik ([piːk]) 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 a single letter - e in “pie” becomes k in “Pik”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pie is recorded at frequency rank #24,870, classified as anoun, pronounced [paɪ]. Pik is at rank #42,047, tagged as anoun, pronounced [piːk].

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 66917, this pair ranks #557,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pie vs Pik

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pie": e. Private to "Pik": k.

"pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Pik" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pie" and "Pik" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([paɪ] versus [piːk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "pie" or "Pik" show up more?
"pie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,870 in our German list, against #42,047 for "Pik". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pik" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #557,274 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pie" and "Pik" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pik vs PMS". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #557,274 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