postetvspustenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,364
“postet” frequency rank
#35,395
“pusten” frequency rank
47759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature postet pusten
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs posen durch plötzliches heftiges Ausatmen einen starken Luftstrom erzeugen

Where the eye mixes postet and pusten

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

6 ch
postet
6 ch
pusten

Why the eye confuses postet with pusten

A purely visual mix-up. postet ([ˈpɔʊ̯stət]) and pusten ([ˈpuːstn̩]) 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 47759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

postet is recorded at frequency rank #12,364, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpɔʊ̯stət]. pusten is at rank #35,395, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpuːstn̩].

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 47759, this pair ranks #1,273,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of postet vs pusten

Shared letters: epst. Private to "postet": o. Private to "pusten": nu.

"postet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pusten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • postetopstet · posett · posstet · postett · postte · posttet · potset · ppostet
  • pustenppusten · psuten · pusetn · pussten · pustenn · pustne · pustten · putsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "postet" for "pusten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpɔʊ̯stət] versus [ˈpuːstn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "postet" vs "pusten" - which ranks higher?
"postet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,364 in our German list, against #35,395 for "pusten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "postet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pusten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,273,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "postet" and "pusten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pusten 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 #1,273,092 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