PlattevsprägteConfusable pair

Quick tell: Platte is a noun, prägte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Platte” is a noun and “prägte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,638
“Platte” frequency rank
#21,393
“prägte” frequency rank
26031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Platte prägte
Definition relativ dünner, flacher und ebener fester Gegenstand, der überall gleich dick ist 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs prägen

Where the eye mixes Platte and prägte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Platte
6 ch
prägte

Visual trap between Platte and prägte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Platte is [ˈplatə] while prägte is [ˈpʁɛːktə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Platte is recorded at frequency rank #4,638, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈplatə]. prägte is at rank #21,393, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpʁɛːktə].

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 26031, this pair ranks #1,824,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Platte vs prägte

Shared letters: ept. Private to "Platte": al. Private to "prägte": grä.

"Platte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "prägte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Plattelpatte · paltte · platet · pllatte · pltate · pplatte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Platte" for "prägte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Platte" is a noun and "prägte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Platte" or "prägte"?
"Platte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,638 in our German list, against #21,393 for "prägte". 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 "Platte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prägte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,824,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Platte" and "prägte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prägte vs Prärie". 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 #1,824,254 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