tapesvsTapeteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tapes is a verb, Tapete is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tapes” is a verb and “Tapete” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,496
“tapes” frequency rank
#29,814
“Tapete” frequency rank
71310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tapes Tapete
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Konjunktiv des Verbs tapar Wandbeschichtung aus einem dünnen und biegsamen Material, die mittels geeignetem Klebstoff auf eine Wand geklebt werden kann

Letter map: tapes vs Tapete

Shared letters muted; letters that set tapes and Tapete apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tapes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Tapete's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tapes
6 ch
Tapete

Grammar separator: tapes vs Tapete

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tapes is averb and Tapeteanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tapes is recorded at frequency rank #41,496, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Tapete is at rank #29,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced [taˈpeːtə].

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 71310, this pair ranks #420,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tapes vs Tapete

Shared letters: aept. Private to "tapes": s. Private to "Tapete": -.

"tapes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Tapete" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tapes ← atpes · taeps · tapess · tappes · tapse · tpaes · ttapes
  • Tapete ← atpete · taepte · tapeet · tapette · tappete · taptee · tpaete · ttapete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tapes" and "Tapete" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tapes" is a verb and "Tapete" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tapes" or "Tapete" show up more?
"Tapete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,814 in our German list, against #41,496 for "tapes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "tapes" vs "Tapete" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tapes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tapete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tapes" and "Tapete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tapes". 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 #420,582 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