SoldvsswordWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Sold” and “sword” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,062
“Sold” frequency rank
#42,169
“sword” frequency rank
69231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sold sword
Definition Bezahlung für das Handwerk eines Soldaten Schwert

Where the eye mixes Sold and sword

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Sold
5 ch
sword

Visual trap between Sold and sword

A purely visual mix-up. Sold ([zɔlt]) and sword ([sɔːd]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sold is recorded at frequency rank #27,062, classified as anoun, pronounced [zɔlt]. sword is at rank #42,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced [sɔːd].

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 69231, this pair ranks #482,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Sold vs sword

Shared letters: dos. Private to "Sold": l. Private to "sword": rw.

"Sold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sword" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Soldosld · slod · sodl · soldd · solld · ssold
  • swordsowrd · ssword · swodr · swordd · sworrd · swrod · swword · wsord

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Sold" and "sword" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([zɔlt] versus [sɔːd]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Sold" or "sword" show up more?
"Sold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,062 in our German list, against #42,169 for "sword". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Sold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sword" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #482,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Sold" and "sword" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sort vs sword". 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 #482,963 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