Which to use
“spannen” is a verb and “Spinner” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,042
- “spannen” frequency rank
- #9,097
- “Spinner” frequency rank
- 28139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spannen | Spinner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas mit Kraftaufwand glatt machen | Person, die das Spinnen betreibt, in einer Spinnerei arbeitet, Garn herstellt |
Where the eye mixes spannen and Spinner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. spannen and Spinner follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between spannen and Spinner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spannen is [ˈʃpanən] while Spinner is [ˈʃpɪnɐ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spannen is recorded at frequency rank #19,042, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpanən]. Spinner is at rank #9,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɪnɐ].
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 28139, this pair ranks #1,789,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spannen vs Spinner
Shared letters: enps. Private to "spannen": a. Private to "Spinner": ir.
"spannen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "Spinner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spannen" and "Spinner" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "spannen" or "Spinner" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "spannen" and "Spinner" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Spinner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,789,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spannen" and "Spinner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spange vs spannen". 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 #1,789,882 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.