spielendvsSpielersWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,948
“spielend” frequency rank
#21,435
“Spielers” frequency rank
49383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes spielend and Spielers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. spielend and Spielers follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
spielend
8 ch
Spielers

Why the eye confuses spielend with Spielers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spielend is [ˈʃpiːlənt] while Spielers is [ˈʃpiːlɐs]. 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 49383, 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]. Spielers is at rank #21,435, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlɐs].

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 49383, this pair ranks #1,213,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of spielend vs Spielers

Shared letters: eilps. Private to "spielend": dn. Private to "Spielers": r.

"spielend" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC  ·  "Spielers" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spielend ← psielend · sipelend · speilend · spieelnd · spieledn · spielendd · spielennd · spiellend
  • Spielers ← psielers · sipelers · speilers · spieelrs · spielerrs · spielerss · spielesr · spiellers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spielend" for "Spielers" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spielend" is an adjective and "Spielers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "spielend" or "Spielers"?
"Spielers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,435 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spielend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spielers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,213,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spielend" and "Spielers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Siegers vs Spielers". 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 #1,213,569 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