PilzevspipeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,151
“Pilze” frequency rank
#44,135
“pipe” frequency rank
54286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pilze pipe
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Pilz Röhre, Rohr

Where the eye mixes Pilze and pipe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Pilze runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against pipe's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Pilze
4 ch
pipe

Visual trap between Pilze and pipe

A purely visual mix-up. Pilze ([ˈpɪlt͡sə]) and pipe ([paɪp]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pilze is recorded at frequency rank #10,151, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɪlt͡sə]. pipe is at rank #44,135, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paɪp].

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 54286, this pair ranks #1,024,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pilze vs pipe

Shared letters: eip. Private to "Pilze": lz. Private to "pipe": -.

"Pilze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pipe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pilze ← iplze · pilez · pillze · pilzze · pizle · plize · ppilze
  • pipe ← ippe · pippe · ppie · ppipe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Pilze" and "pipe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɪlt͡sə] versus [paɪp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Pilze" or "pipe"?
"Pilze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,151 in our German list, against #44,135 for "pipe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Pilze" and "pipe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pilze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pipe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,024,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pilze" and "pipe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pig vs pipe". 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 #1,024,709 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