spiegelnvsspiegeltWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,792
“spiegeln” frequency rank
#8,456
“spiegelt” frequency rank
21248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spiegeln spiegelt
Definition ein Bild von etwas oder jemandem in einem geeigneten Medium zurückgeben 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spiegeln

Where the eye mixes spiegeln and spiegelt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. spiegeln and spiegelt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
spiegeln
8 ch
spiegelt

Visual trap between spiegeln and spiegelt

A purely visual mix-up. spiegeln ([ˈʃpiːɡl̩n]) and spiegelt ([ˈʃpiːɡl̩t]) 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 a single letter - n in “spiegeln” becomes t in “spiegelt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spiegeln is recorded at frequency rank #12,792, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːɡl̩n]. spiegelt is at rank #8,456, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːɡl̩t].

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 21248, this pair ranks #1,888,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spiegeln vs spiegelt

Shared letters: egilps. Private to "spiegeln": n. Private to "spiegelt": t.

"spiegeln" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "spiegelt" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spiegeln ← psiegeln · sipegeln · speigeln · spieegln · spiegelln · spiegelnn · spiegenl · spieggeln
  • spiegelt ← psiegelt · sipegelt · speigelt · spieeglt · spiegellt · spiegeltt · spiegetl · spieggelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spiegeln" for "spiegelt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpiːɡl̩n] versus [ˈʃpiːɡl̩t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "spiegeln" or "spiegelt" show up more?
"spiegelt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,456 in our German list, against #12,792 for "spiegeln". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "spiegeln" and "spiegelt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spiegeln" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spiegelt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,888,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spiegeln" and "spiegelt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spiegeln vs spiegelte". 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 #1,888,539 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