Which to use
“skill” and “Spiel” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,171
- “skill” frequency rank
- #303
- “Spiel” frequency rank
- 26474
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skill | Spiel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Fähigkeit, etwas mit Sachverstand und Können zu tun, speziell durch Übung und Erfahrung | Tätigkeit ohne Zweck und aus Freude |
Where the eye mixes skill and Spiel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: skill vs Spiel
A purely visual mix-up. skill ([skɪl]) and Spiel ([ʃpiːl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26474, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skill is recorded at frequency rank #26,171, classified as anoun, pronounced [skɪl]. Spiel is at rank #303, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpiːl].
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 26474, this pair ranks #1,817,492 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of skill vs Spiel
Shared letters: ils. Private to "skill": k. Private to "Spiel": ep.
"skill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "Spiel" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "skill" and "Spiel" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "skill" or "Spiel" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "skill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Spiel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,817,492 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skill" and "Spiel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sil vs skill". 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 #1,817,492 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.