SchauspielereivsschauspielernWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#29,767
“Schauspielerei” frequency rank
#14,918
“schauspielern” frequency rank
44685
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schauspielerei schauspielern
Definition Ausübung des Berufs eines Schauspielers den Beruf des Schauspielers ausüben

Where the eye mixes Schauspielerei and schauspielern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. Schauspielerei runs 14 letters (CCCVVCCVVCVCVV) against schauspielern's 13 (CCCVVCCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

14 ch
Schauspielerei
13 ch
schauspielern

Why the eye confuses Schauspielerei with schauspielern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schauspielerei is [ʃaʊ̯ʃpiːləˈʁaɪ̯] while schauspielern is [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schauspielerei is recorded at frequency rank #29,767, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃaʊ̯ʃpiːləˈʁaɪ̯]. schauspielern is at rank #14,918, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐn].

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 44685, this pair ranks #1,378,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Schauspielerei vs schauspielern

Shared letters: acehilprsu. Private to "Schauspielerei": -. Private to "schauspielern": n.

"Schauspielerei" · 14 letters · shape CCCVVCCVVCVCVV  ·  "schauspielern" · 13 letters · shape CCCVVCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Schauspielereicshauspielerei · scahuspielerei · scchauspielerei · schasupielerei · schaupsielerei · schausipelerei · schauspeilerei · schauspieelrei
  • schauspielerncshauspielern · scahuspielern · scchauspielern · schasupielern · schaupsielern · schausipelern · schauspeilern · schauspieelrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Schauspielerei" and "schauspielern" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schauspielerei" is a noun and "schauspielern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Schauspielerei" vs "schauspielern" - which ranks higher?
"schauspielern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,918 in our German list, against #29,767 for "Schauspielerei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Schauspielerei" and "schauspielern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schauspielerei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schauspielern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,378,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schauspielerei" and "schauspielern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Schauspielerei vs Schauspielers". 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 #1,378,144 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