SpielervsspielstTell them apart

Quick tell: Spieler is a noun, spielst is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Spieler” is a noun and “spielst” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#758
“Spieler” frequency rank
#9,981
“spielst” frequency rank
10739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spieler spielst
Definition jemand, der in einem Ballsport gegen einen anderen oder eine andere Mannschaft antritt; des Weiteren jemand, der an einem Brett-, Würfel-, Kartenspiel oder einem ähnlichen Gesellschaftsspiel teilnimmt 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spielen

Where the eye mixes Spieler and spielst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Spieler (CCVVCVC) and spielst (CCVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Spieler
7 ch
spielst

Look-alike desk: Spieler vs spielst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spieler is [ˈʃpiːlɐ] while spielst is [ʃpiːlst]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spieler is recorded at frequency rank #758, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpiːlɐ]. spielst is at rank #9,981, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpiːlst].

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 10739, this pair ranks #1,973,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Spieler vs spielst

Shared letters: eilps. Private to "Spieler": r. Private to "spielst": t.

"Spieler" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "spielst" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spieler ← psieler · sipeler · speiler · spieelr · spielerr · spieller · spielre · spileer
  • spielst ← psielst · sipelst · speilst · spiellst · spielsst · spielstt · spielts · spieslt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Spieler" and "spielst" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spieler" is a noun and "spielst" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Spieler" or "spielst" show up more?
"Spieler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #758 in our German list, against #9,981 for "spielst". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spieler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spielst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spieler" and "spielst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spielart vs spielst". 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 #1,973,578 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