speistvssplitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,798
“speist” frequency rank
#19,399
“split” frequency rank
51197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature speist split
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs speisen (der Länge nach) in Teile brechen, splittern, sich längs teilen

Where the eye mixes speist and split

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
speist
5 ch
split

Visual trap between speist and split

A purely visual mix-up. speist ([ʃpaɪ̯st]) and split ([splɪt]) 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 51197, 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]. split is at rank #19,399, tagged as averb, pronounced [splɪt].

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 51197, this pair ranks #1,144,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of speist vs split

Shared letters: ipst. Private to "speist": e. Private to "split": l.

"speist" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "split" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • speistpseist · sepist · speisst · speistt · speits · spesit · spiest · sppeist
  • splitpslit · slpit · spilt · splitt · spllit · splti · spplit · ssplit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "speist" for "split" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃpaɪ̯st] versus [splɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "speist" vs "split" - which ranks higher?
"split" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,399 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "speist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "split" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,144,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "speist" and "split" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "speist vs steigst". 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 #1,144,754 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