Seilen vs spielen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#27,053
“Seilen” frequency rank: #341
“spielen” frequency rank: 27394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Seilen	spielen
Definition	Dativ Plural des Substantivs Seil	einer zwanglosen komplexen Betätigung nachgehen, bei der der Lustgewinn im Vordergrund steht

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Seilen and spielen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

Seilen

7 ch

spielen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seilen is [ˈzaɪ̯lən] while spielen is [ˈʃpiːlən]. 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 27394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Seilen is recorded at frequency rank #27,053, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯lən]. spielen is at rank #341, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlən].

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 27394, this pair ranks #1,802,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Seilen vs spielen

Shared letters: eilns. Private to "Seilen": -. Private to "spielen": p.

"Seilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "spielen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Seilen ← esilen · seieln · seilenn · seillen · seilne · selien · sielen · sseilen
spielen ← psielen · sipelen · speilen · spieeln · spielenn · spiellen · spielne · spileen

Frequency comparison

Seilen#27,053

spielen#341

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Seilen" and "spielen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Seilen" is a noun and "spielen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Seilen" or "spielen"?

"spielen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #341 in our German list, against #27,053 for "Seilen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Seilen vs spielen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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