publicvsPullisConfusable pair

Quick tell: public is a adjective, Pullis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“public” is an adjective and “Pullis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,522
“public” frequency rank
#49,984
“Pullis” frequency rank
55506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature public Pullis
Definition öffentlich Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Pulli

Where the eye mixes public and Pullis

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

6 ch
public
6 ch
Pullis

Why the eye confuses public with Pullis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: public is [ˈpʌblɪk] while Pullis is [ˈpʊliːs]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

public is recorded at frequency rank #5,522, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpʌblɪk]. Pullis is at rank #49,984, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpʊliːs].

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 55506, this pair ranks #976,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of public vs Pullis

Shared letters: ilpu. Private to "public": bc. Private to "Pullis": s.

"public" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Pullis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • publicpbulic · ppublic · pubblic · pubilc · publci · publicc · publlic · pulbic
  • Pullisplulis · ppullis · pulils · pulis · pulliss · pullsi · upllis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "public" for "Pullis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "public" is an adjective and "Pullis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "public" vs "Pullis" - which ranks higher?
"public" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,522 in our German list, against #49,984 for "Pullis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "public" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pullis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #976,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "public" and "Pullis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pull vs Pullis". 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 #976,889 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