Which to use
“Spass” is a noun and “spies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #524
- “Spass” frequency rank
- #43,504
- “spies” frequency rank
- 44028
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Spass | spies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Spaß | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs speisen |
Where the eye mixes Spass and spies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Spass (CCVCC) and spies (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Spass vs spies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spass is [ʃpaːs] while spies is [ʃpiːs]. 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 44028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Spass is recorded at frequency rank #524, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃpaːs]. spies is at rank #43,504, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpiːs].
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 44028, this pair ranks #1,399,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Spass vs spies
Shared letters: ps. Private to "Spass": a. Private to "spies": ei.
"Spass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "spies" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Spass" and "spies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Spass" or "spies" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Spass" and "spies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Spass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,399,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Spass" and "spies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Skier vs spies". 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 #1,399,360 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.