PossevsPriseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,240
“Posse” frequency rank
#20,376
“Prise” frequency rank
50616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Posse Prise
Definition Bühnenstück, das durch Verwechslungen, Übertreibungen und derbe Komik zum Lachen anregen soll Menge eines feinkörnigen Materials, die ein Mensch zwischen zwei (drei) Fingern aufnehmen kann

Where the eye mixes Posse and Prise

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Posse (CVCCV) and Prise (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Posse
5 ch
Prise

Look-alike desk: Posse vs Prise

A purely visual mix-up. Posse ([ˈpɔsə]) and Prise ([ˈpʁiːzə]) 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 50616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Posse is recorded at frequency rank #30,240, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔsə]. Prise is at rank #20,376, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpʁiːzə].

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 50616, this pair ranks #1,166,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Posse vs Prise

Shared letters: eps. Private to "Posse": o. Private to "Prise": ir.

"Posse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Prise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Posse ← opsse · poses · poße · pposse · psose
  • Prise ← pirse · pprise · prisse · prrise · prsie · rpise

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Posse" for "Prise" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɔsə] versus [ˈpʁiːzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Posse" or "Prise" show up more?
"Prise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,376 in our German list, against #30,240 for "Posse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Posse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Prise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,166,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Posse" and "Prise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ponte vs Posse". 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 #1,166,942 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