speist vs spielst, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#31,798
“speist” frequency rank: #9,981
“spielst” frequency rank: 41779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	speist	spielst
Definition	2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs speisen	2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spielen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set speist and spielst apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

speist

7 ch

spielst

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. speist ([ʃpaɪ̯st]) and spielst ([ʃpiːlst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

speist is recorded at frequency rank #31,798, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpaɪ̯st]. spielst is at rank #9,981, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpiːlst].

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 41779, this pair ranks #1,469,309 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of speist vs spielst

Shared letters: eipst. Private to "speist": -. Private to "spielst": l.

"speist" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "spielst" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

speist ← pseist · sepist · speisst · speistt · speits · spesit · spiest · sppeist
spielst ← psielst · sipelst · speilst · spiellst · spielsst · spielstt · spielts · spieslt

Frequency comparison

speist#31,798

spielst#9,981

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "speist" and "spielst" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([ʃpaɪ̯st] versus [ʃpiːlst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "speist" or "spielst"?

"spielst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,981 in our German list, against #31,798 for "speist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering speist vs spielst

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “speist” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable