PillevsPillenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,606
“Pille” frequency rank
#14,147
“Pillen” frequency rank
23753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pille Pillen
Definition Arzneimittel, Nahrungsergänzungsmittel oder anderes Mittel, welches zur bequemen, Einnahme über den Mund kugelförmig oder oval geformt ist Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Pille

Where the eye mixes Pille and Pillen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Pille
6 ch
Pillen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Pille ([ˈpɪlə]) and Pillen ([ˈpɪlən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Pille” sits inside “Pillen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pille is recorded at frequency rank #9,606, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪlə]. Pillen is at rank #14,147, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪlən].

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 23753, this pair ranks #1,857,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pille vs Pillen

Shared letters: eilp. Private to "Pille": -. Private to "Pillen": n.

"Pille" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Pillen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pilleiplle · pile · pilel · plile · ppille
  • Pillenipllen · pileln · pilen · pillenn · pillne · plilen · ppillen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pille" and "Pillen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɪlə] versus [ˈpɪlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Pille" or "Pillen"?
"Pille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,606 in our German list, against #14,147 for "Pillen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Pille" and "Pillen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pillen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,857,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pille" and "Pillen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picken vs Pillen". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list