SoulvsspültTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#10,751
“Soul” frequency rank
#34,379
“spült” frequency rank
45130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Soul spült
Definition etwa ab Mitte der 1950er Jahre entstandene musikalische Stilrichtung der afroamerikanischen Unterhaltungsmusik 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spülen

Where the eye mixes Soul and spült

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Soul runs 4 letters (CVVC) against spült's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Soul
5 ch
spült

Why the eye confuses Soul with spült

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Soul is [sɔʊ̯l] while spült is [ʃpyːlt]. 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 45130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Soul is recorded at frequency rank #10,751, classified as anoun, pronounced [sɔʊ̯l]. spült is at rank #34,379, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpyːlt].

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 45130, this pair ranks #1,363,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Soul vs spült

Shared letters: ls. Private to "Soul": ou. Private to "spült": ptü.

"Soul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "spült" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Soulosul · solu · soull · ssoul · suol

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Soul" and "spült" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Soul" is a noun and "spült" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Soul" or "spült" show up more?
"Soul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,751 in our German list, against #34,379 for "spült". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Soul" and "spült" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Soul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spült" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,363,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Soul" and "spült" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skull vs spült". 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 #1,363,477 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