spielendvsSpielernWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: spielend is a adjective, Spielern is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spielend” is an adjective and “Spielern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,948
“spielend” frequency rank
#5,313
“Spielern” frequency rank
33261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spielend Spielern
Definition so, dass es jemandem sehr leicht fällt, etwas zu erledigen, zu schaffen oder zu bewältigen; ohne Anstrengung, ohne Mühe, wie im Spiel Dativ Plural des Substantivs Spieler

Where the eye mixes spielend and Spielern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
spielend
8 ch
Spielern

Visual trap between spielend and Spielern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spielend is [ˈʃpiːlənt] while Spielern is [ˈʃpiːlɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spielend is recorded at frequency rank #27,948, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlənt]. Spielern is at rank #5,313, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlɐn].

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 33261, this pair ranks #1,689,835 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spielend vs Spielern

Shared letters: eilnps. Private to "spielend": d. Private to "Spielern": r.

"spielend" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "Spielern" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spielendpsielend · sipelend · speilend · spieelnd · spieledn · spielendd · spielennd · spiellend
  • Spielernpsielern · sipelern · speilern · spieelrn · spielenr · spielernn · spielerrn · spiellern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spielend" for "Spielern" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spielend" is an adjective and "Spielern" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "spielend" or "Spielern" show up more?
"Spielern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,313 in our German list, against #27,948 for "spielend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spielend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spielern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,689,835 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spielend" and "Spielern" 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 #1,689,835 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