speedvsSpielWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“speed” and “Spiel” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,818
“speed” frequency rank
#303
“Spiel” frequency rank
8121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature speed Spiel
Definition Verhältnis von zurückgelegter Strecke zur dafür benötigten Zeit; Geschwindigkeit Tätigkeit ohne Zweck und aus Freude

Where the eye mixes speed and Spiel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
speed
5 ch
Spiel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. speed ([spiːd]) and Spiel ([ʃpiːl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

speed is recorded at frequency rank #7,818, classified as anoun, pronounced [spiːd]. Spiel is at rank #303, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpiːl].

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 8121, this pair ranks #1,985,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of speed vs Spiel

Shared letters: eps. Private to "speed": d. Private to "Spiel": il.

"speed" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "Spiel" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • speedpseed · seped · sped · spede · speedd · sppeed · sspeed
  • Spielpsiel · sipel · speil · spiell · spile · sppiel · sspiel

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "speed" and "Spiel" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([spiːd] versus [ʃpiːl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "speed" or "Spiel"?
"Spiel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #303 in our German list, against #7,818 for "speed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "speed" and "Spiel". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "speed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spiel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "speed" and "Spiel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seel vs speed". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list