speakvsspearsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#39,637
“speak” frequency rank
#29,794
“spears” frequency rank
69431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature speak spears
Definition mit der Stimme kommunizieren, Wörter laut sagen Plural des Substantivs spear

Letter map: speak vs spears

Shared letters muted; letters that set speak and spears apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
speak
6 ch
spears

Role in the sentence - speak and spears

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: speak is averb and spearsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

speak is recorded at frequency rank #39,637, classified as averb, pronounced [spiːk]. spears is at rank #29,794, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 69431, this pair ranks #476,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of speak vs spears

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "speak": k. Private to "spears": r.

"speak" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "spears" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • speakpseak · sepak · spaek · speakk · speka · sppeak · sspeak
  • spearspsears · separs · spaers · spearrs · spearss · speasr · speras · sppears

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "speak" for "spears" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "speak" is a verb and "spears" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "speak" or "spears"?
"spears" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,794 in our German list, against #39,637 for "speak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "speak" vs "spears" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "speak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spears" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #476,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "speak" and "spears" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs spears". 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 #476,858 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