presstvsProbstWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: presst is a verb, Probst is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“presst” is a verb and “Probst” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,395
“presst” frequency rank
#22,099
“Probst” frequency rank
70494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature presst Probst
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs pressen deutscher Familienname

Where the eye mixes presst and Probst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. presst and Probst follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
presst
6 ch
Probst

Visual trap between presst and Probst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: presst is [pʁɛst] while Probst is [pʁoːpst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

presst is recorded at frequency rank #48,395, classified as averb, pronounced [pʁɛst]. Probst is at rank #22,099, tagged as aname, pronounced [pʁoːpst].

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 70494, this pair ranks #444,672 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of presst vs Probst

Shared letters: prst. Private to "presst": e. Private to "Probst": bo.

"presst" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "Probst" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • presst ← persst · ppresst · presstt · prest · prests · preßt · prresst · prsest
  • Probst ← porbst · pprobst · prbost · probbst · probsst · probstt · probts · prosbt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "presst" for "Probst" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "presst" is a verb and "Probst" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "presst" or "Probst" show up more?
"Probst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,099 in our German list, against #48,395 for "presst". 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 "presst" and "Probst" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "presst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Probst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #444,672 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "presst" and "Probst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preist 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 #444,672 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