pan

[pæn]

/[pæn]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pan” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #10,913) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#10,913
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pfanne, Kochgerät zum Braten

Corpus desk

Index DE-pan · pan · German

pan · rank #10,913 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,913
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH Palästina

Nearest frequency peer: Palästina (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “pan”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “pan” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pan vs PC
0% similar
pan vs PS
0% similar
pan vs Pr
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pan
PropertyValue
Headwordpan
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[pæn]
Letters3
Frequency rank#10,913
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “pan” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.panliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Palästina“ (#10,912), „parlamentarischen“ (#10,914), „Ortschaften“ (#10,911). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for pan is neighbouring look-alikes ("PC", "PS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [pæn]. Frequency #10,913 among 3,409 “P” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for pan in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PC", "PS", "Pr", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is pan, spelled P-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pfanne, Kochgerät zum Braten
  2. 2
    Waagschale, Teil einer Waage in die das zu wiegende Objekt gelegt wird
  3. 3
    Gesicht, Fresse

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pan appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. He's making fried eggs with the pan.
  2. This pan is a little bit higher than the other one.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pan"?
"pan" is spelled P-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is [pæn].
What does "pan" mean?
As a noun, "pan" means: Pfanne, Kochgerät zum Braten
What words are commonly confused with "pan"?
"pan" is commonly confused with "PC", "PS", "Pr". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pan"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pan" is [pæn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pan" come from?
"pan" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pan", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ron#10,928Lea#10,893SWR#10,949TuS#10,954

What to do next

You've looked up "pan". Here's where to go from here.

  • "pan" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "PC". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #10,913 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more German words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list