PollenvsPostenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,389
“Pollen” frequency rank
#2,173
“Posten” frequency rank
23562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pollen Posten
Definition Blütenstaub Teil einer Gesamtmenge

Where the eye mixes Pollen and Posten

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

6 ch
Pollen
6 ch
Posten

Look-alike desk: Pollen vs Posten

A purely visual mix-up. Pollen ([ˈpɔlən]) and Posten ([ˈpɔstn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pollen is recorded at frequency rank #21,389, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔlən]. Posten is at rank #2,173, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔstn̩].

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 23562, this pair ranks #1,859,648 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pollen vs Posten

Shared letters: enop. Private to "Pollen": l. Private to "Posten": st.

"Pollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Posten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pollenopllen · plolen · poleln · pollenn · pollne · ppollen
  • Postenopsten · posetn · possten · postenn · postne · postten · potsen · pposten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pollen" and "Posten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɔlən] versus [ˈpɔstn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pollen" vs "Posten" - which ranks higher?
"Posten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,173 in our German list, against #21,389 for "Pollen". 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 "Pollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Posten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,859,648 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pollen" and "Posten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Polin vs Pollen". 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 #1,859,648 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