PreisvsPresseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#604
“Preis” frequency rank
#1,780
“Presse” frequency rank
2384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Preis Presse
Definition beim Erwerb einer Ware oder Dienstleistung zu zahlender Geldbetrag Gerät, das zum Pressen dient

Where the eye mixes Preis and Presse

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

5 ch
Preis
6 ch
Presse

Visual trap between Preis and Presse

A purely visual mix-up. Preis ([pʁaɪ̯s]) and Presse ([ˈpʁɛsə]) 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 2384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Preis is recorded at frequency rank #604, classified as anoun, pronounced [pʁaɪ̯s]. Presse is at rank #1,780, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpʁɛsə].

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 2384, this pair ranks #2,002,492 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Preis vs Presse

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "Preis": i. Private to "Presse": -.

"Preis" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Presse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Preisperis · ppreis · preiss · presi · prreis · rpeis
  • Pressepersse · ppresse · prese · preses · preße · prresse · prsese · rpesse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Preis" for "Presse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pʁaɪ̯s] versus [ˈpʁɛsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Preis" or "Presse" show up more?
"Preis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #604 in our German list, against #1,780 for "Presse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Preis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Presse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,492 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Preis" and "Presse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Presse vs presst". 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 #2,002,492 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