SpielevsSpreeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Spiele is a noun, Spree is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Spiele” is a noun and “Spree” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#651
“Spiele” frequency rank
#12,175
“Spree” frequency rank
12826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spiele Spree
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Spiel ein Fluss in Deutschland

Where the eye mixes Spiele and Spree

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

6 ch
Spiele
5 ch
Spree

Look-alike desk: Spiele vs Spree

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spiele is [ˈʃpiːlə] while Spree is [ˈʃpʁeː]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spiele is recorded at frequency rank #651, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlə]. Spree is at rank #12,175, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈʃpʁeː].

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 12826, this pair ranks #1,961,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Spiele vs Spree

Shared letters: eps. Private to "Spiele": il. Private to "Spree": r.

"Spiele" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Spree" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spielepsiele · sipele · speile · spieel · spielle · spilee · sppiele · sspiele
  • Spreepsree · sppree · spre · sprree · srpee · sspree

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Spiele" for "Spree" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spiele" is a noun and "Spree" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Spiele" vs "Spree" - which ranks higher?
"Spiele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #651 in our German list, against #12,175 for "Spree". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spiele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spree" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spiele" and "Spree" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sire vs Spree". 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 #1,961,822 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