pievspriesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,870
“pie” frequency rank
#44,147
“pries” frequency rank
69017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pie pries
Definition ein herzhaftes oder würziges Gebäck, wie beispielsweise eine Pastete 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs preisen

Where the eye mixes pie and pries

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

3 ch
pie
5 ch
pries

Look-alike desk: pie vs pries

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pie is [paɪ] while pries is [pʁiːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69017, 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]. pries is at rank #44,147, tagged as averb, pronounced [pʁiːs].

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 69017, this pair ranks #489,645 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pie vs pries

Shared letters: eip. Private to "pie": -. Private to "pries": rs.

"pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "pries" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • priespires · ppries · priess · prries · rpies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pie" and "pries" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pie" is a noun and "pries" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pie" vs "pries" - which ranks higher?
"pie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,870 in our German list, against #44,147 for "pries". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #489,645 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pie" and "pries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pries vs pros". 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 #489,645 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