schauspielernvsSchauspielersWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,918
“schauspielern” frequency rank
#33,796
“Schauspielers” frequency rank
48714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schauspielern Schauspielers
Definition den Beruf des Schauspielers ausüben Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Schauspieler

Where the eye mixes schauspielern and Schauspielers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. schauspielern and Schauspielers follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVVCCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

13 ch
schauspielern
13 ch
Schauspielers

Why the eye confuses schauspielern with Schauspielers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: schauspielern is [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐn] while Schauspielers is [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “schauspielern” becomes s in “Schauspielers”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schauspielern is recorded at frequency rank #14,918, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐn]. Schauspielers is at rank #33,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃaʊ̯ˌʃpiːlɐs].

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 48714, this pair ranks #1,238,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of schauspielern vs Schauspielers

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

"schauspielern" · 13 letters · shape CCCVVCCVVCVCC  ·  "Schauspielers" · 13 letters · shape CCCVVCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schauspielerncshauspielern · scahuspielern · scchauspielern · schasupielern · schaupsielern · schausipelern · schauspeilern · schauspieelrn
  • Schauspielerscshauspielers · scahuspielers · scchauspielers · schasupielers · schaupsielers · schausipelers · schauspeilers · schauspieelrs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "schauspielern" for "Schauspielers" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "schauspielern" is a verb and "Schauspielers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "schauspielern" or "Schauspielers"?
"schauspielern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,918 in our German list, against #33,796 for "Schauspielers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schauspielern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Schauspielers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,238,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schauspielern" and "Schauspielers" 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 #1,238,365 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