Which to use
“spare” is a verb and “Spässe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,136
- “spare” frequency rank
- #44,242
- “Spässe” frequency rank
- 61378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spare | Spässe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sparen | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Spass |
Where the eye mixes spare and Spässe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. spare runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against Spässe's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between spare and Spässe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spare is [ˈʃpaːʁə] while Spässe is [ˈʃpɛːsə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spare is recorded at frequency rank #17,136, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpaːʁə]. Spässe is at rank #44,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɛːsə].
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 61378, this pair ranks #752,116 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of spare vs Spässe
Shared letters: eps. Private to "spare": ar. Private to "Spässe": ä.
"spare" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "Spässe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- spare ← psare · sapre · spaer · sparre · sppare · sprae · sspare
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spare" and "Spässe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "spare" or "Spässe" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "spare" and "Spässe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Spässe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #752,116 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spare" and "Spässe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sparst vs Spässe". 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 #752,116 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.