SäurevsspüreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,980
“Säure” frequency rank
#11,758
“spüre” frequency rank
23738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Säure spüre
Definition chemische Verbindung, die im Zuge einer Säure-Base-Reaktion Protonen abgeben kann 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spüren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Säure and spüre apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Säure
5 ch
spüre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Säure is [ˈzɔɪ̯ʁə] while spüre is [ˈʃpyːʁə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Säure is recorded at frequency rank #11,980, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɔɪ̯ʁə]. spüre is at rank #11,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpyːʁə].

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 23738, this pair ranks #1,857,239 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Säure vs spüre

Shared letters: ers. Private to "Säure": . Private to "spüre": .

"Säure" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "spüre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequency comparison

Säure#11,980
spüre#11,758

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Säure" and "spüre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Säure" is a noun and "spüre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Säure" or "spüre"?
"spüre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,758 in our German list, against #11,980 for "Säure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Säure vs spüre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Säure”; for a verb, it's “spüre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Säure” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list