fritesvsspielsTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,355
“frites” frequency rank
#5,427
“spiels” frequency rank
44782
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frites spiels
Definition Deutsch: Fritte, Fritten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spiel

Letter map: frites vs spiels

Shared letters muted; letters that set frites and spiels apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. frites (CCVCVC) and spiels (CCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
frites
6 ch
spiels

Grammar separator: frites vs spiels

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: frites is anoun and spielsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frites is recorded at frequency rank #39,355, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. spiels is at rank #5,427, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 44782, this pair ranks #1,374,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of frites vs spiels

Shared letters: eis. Private to "frites": frt. Private to "spiels": lp.

"frites" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "spiels" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fritesffrites · firtes · friets · fritess · fritse · frittes · frrites · frties
  • spielspsiels · sipels · speils · spiells · spielss · spiesl · spiles · sppiels

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "frites" for "spiels" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frites" is a noun and "spiels" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "frites" or "spiels"?
"spiels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,427 in our German list, against #39,355 for "frites". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "frites" and "spiels".

  • Full dictionary entry for "frites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spiels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,374,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frites" and "spiels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frites vs puzzles". 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 #1,374,861 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