Which to use
“spielen” is a verb and “spielend” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #341
- “spielen” frequency rank
- #27,948
- “spielend” frequency rank
- 28289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spielen | spielend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einer zwanglosen komplexen Betätigung nachgehen, bei der der Lustgewinn im Vordergrund steht | so, dass es jemandem sehr leicht fällt, etwas zu erledigen, zu schaffen oder zu bewältigen; ohne Anstrengung, ohne Mühe, wie im Spiel |
Where the eye mixes spielen and spielend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. spielen runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against spielend's 8 (CCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: spielen vs spielend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spielen is [ˈʃpiːlən] while spielend is [ˈʃpiːlənt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “spielen” sits inside “spielend”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spielen is recorded at frequency rank #341, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlən]. spielend is at rank #27,948, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlənt].
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 28289, this pair ranks #1,787,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spielen vs spielend
Shared letters: eilnps. Private to "spielen": -. Private to "spielend": d.
"spielen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "spielend" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spielen" and "spielend" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "spielen" vs "spielend" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "spielen" and "spielend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "spielen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spielend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,787,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spielen" and "spielend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spielend vs Spieles". 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 #1,787,437 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.