Which to use
“Spielchen” is a noun and “spielten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,550
- “Spielchen” frequency rank
- #4,464
- “spielten” frequency rank
- 21014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Spielchen | spielten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kurzes, mit wenig Aufwand betriebenes Spiel | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs spielen |
Where the eye mixes Spielchen and spielten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Spielchen runs 9 letters (CCVVCCCVC) against spielten's 8 (CCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Spielchen with spielten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spielchen is [ˈʃpiːlçən] while spielten is [ˈʃpiːltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Spielchen is recorded at frequency rank #16,550, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlçən]. spielten is at rank #4,464, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːltn̩].
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 21014, this pair ranks #1,891,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Spielchen vs spielten
Shared letters: eilnps. Private to "Spielchen": ch. Private to "spielten": t.
"Spielchen" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCCVC · "spielten" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Spielchen" and "spielten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Spielchen" or "spielten" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Spielchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spielten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,891,137 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Spielchen" and "spielten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Speichen vs Spielchen". 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 #1,891,137 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.