Which to use
“spielen” is a verb and “Spieles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #341
- “spielen” frequency rank
- #33,830
- “Spieles” frequency rank
- 34171
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spielen | Spieles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einer zwanglosen komplexen Betätigung nachgehen, bei der der Lustgewinn im Vordergrund steht | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Spiel |
Where the eye mixes spielen and Spieles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. spielen and Spieles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: spielen vs Spieles
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spielen is [ˈʃpiːlən] while Spieles is [ˈʃpiːləs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “spielen” becomes s in “Spieles”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spielen is recorded at frequency rank #341, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlən]. Spieles is at rank #33,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːləs].
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 34171, this pair ranks #1,669,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spielen vs Spieles
Shared letters: eilps. Private to "spielen": n. Private to "Spieles": -.
"spielen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "Spieles" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spielen" for "Spieles" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "spielen" or "Spieles" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "spielen" and "Spieles" 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 "Spieles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,669,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spielen" and "Spieles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spieles vs Stiles". 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 #1,669,513 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.