Which to use
“Spalte” is a noun and “spanne” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,175
- “Spalte” frequency rank
- #27,946
- “spanne” frequency rank
- 38121
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Spalte | spanne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schmaler Einschnitt, länglicher Riss | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spannen |
Where the eye mixes Spalte and spanne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Spalte with spanne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spalte is [ˈʃpaltə] while spanne is [ˈʃpanə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Spalte is recorded at frequency rank #10,175, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpaltə]. spanne is at rank #27,946, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpanə].
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 38121, this pair ranks #1,572,232 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Spalte vs spanne
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "Spalte": lt. Private to "spanne": n.
"Spalte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "spanne" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Spalte" for "spanne" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Spalte" vs "spanne" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Spalte" and "spanne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Spalte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spanne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,572,232 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Spalte" and "spanne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spanne vs staune". 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 #1,572,232 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.