Which to use
“sharp” is an adjective and “spare” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,787
- “sharp” frequency rank
- #17,136
- “spare” frequency rank
- 46923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sharp | spare |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | so, dass es gut schneidet (zum Beispiel ein Messer oder eine Axt) | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sparen |
Letter map: sharp vs spare
Shared letters muted; letters that set sharp and spare apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for sharp / spare
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sharp is anadjective and spareaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sharp is recorded at frequency rank #29,787, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. spare is at rank #17,136, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpaːʁə].
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 46923, this pair ranks #1,302,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sharp vs spare
Shared letters: aprs. Private to "sharp": h. Private to "spare": e.
"sharp" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "spare" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sharp" for "spare" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sharp" vs "spare" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "sharp" vs "spare" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "sharp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,302,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sharp" and "spare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sharp". 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 #1,302,299 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.