PiervsPingConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,024
“Pier” frequency rank
#17,677
“Ping” frequency rank
37701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pier Ping
Definition massiver Hafendamm eine Abfrage, ob der Netzwerkpartner erreichbar ist, aus der bei Erfolg (je nach ausführendem Kommando) die Paketumlaufzeit ermittelt wird

Where the eye mixes Pier and Ping

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

4 ch
Pier
4 ch
Ping

Why the eye confuses Pier with Ping

A purely visual mix-up. Pier ([piːɐ̯]) and Ping ([pɪŋ]) 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 37701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pier is recorded at frequency rank #20,024, classified as anoun, pronounced [piːɐ̯]. Ping is at rank #17,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɪŋ].

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 37701, this pair ranks #1,583,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pier vs Ping

Shared letters: ip. Private to "Pier": er. Private to "Ping": gn.

"Pier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Ping" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pieriper · peir · pierr · pire · ppier
  • Pingipng · pign · pingg · pinng · pnig · pping

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Pier" and "Ping" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([piːɐ̯] versus [pɪŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pier" vs "Ping" - which ranks higher?
"Ping" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,677 in our German list, against #20,024 for "Pier". 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 "Pier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ping" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,583,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pier" and "Ping" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pier vs pig". 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 #1,583,335 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