pistevsPointeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,679
“piste” frequency rank
#17,098
“Pointe” frequency rank
34777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature piste Pointe
Definition Punkt aufschlussreicher, unvorhergesehener Gipfel/Kulminationspunkt einer Erzählung/Entwicklung

Where the eye mixes piste and Pointe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
piste
6 ch
Pointe

Visual trap between piste and Pointe

A purely visual mix-up. piste ([ˈpiste]) and Pointe ([ˈpo̯ɛ̃ːtə]) 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 34777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

piste is recorded at frequency rank #17,679, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpiste]. Pointe is at rank #17,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpo̯ɛ̃ːtə].

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 34777, this pair ranks #1,655,523 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of piste vs Pointe

Shared letters: eipt. Private to "piste": s. Private to "Pointe": no.

"piste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pisteipste · piset · pisste · pistte · pitse · ppiste · psite
  • Pointeopinte · pionte · poinet · poinnte · pointte · poitne · ponite · ppointe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "piste" and "Pointe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpiste] versus [ˈpo̯ɛ̃ːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "piste" or "Pointe" show up more?
"Pointe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,098 in our German list, against #17,679 for "piste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "piste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pointe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,655,523 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "piste" and "Pointe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piste vs pustet". 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 #1,655,523 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