PiervspinsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,024
“Pier” frequency rank
#36,553
“pins” frequency rank
56577
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pier pins
Definition massiver Hafendamm Plural des Substantivs pin

Letter map: Pier vs pins

Shared letters muted; letters that set Pier and pins apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Pier (CVVC) and pins (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Pier
4 ch
pins

Spelling & dictionary notes on Pier vs pins

Pier and pins are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56577, 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]. pins is at rank #36,553, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 56577, this pair ranks #934,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pier vs pins

Shared letters: ip. Private to "Pier": er. Private to "pins": ns.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pier ← iper · peir · pierr · pire · ppier
  • pins ← ipns · pinns · pinss · pisn · pnis · ppins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pier" for "pins" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Pier" vs "pins" - which ranks higher?
"Pier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,024 in our German list, against #36,553 for "pins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Pier" vs "pins" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #934,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pier" and "pins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pins vs puzzles". 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 #934,896 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