spiesvsSPSWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: spies is a verb, SPS is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spies” is a verb and “SPS” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,504
“spies” frequency rank
#42,839
“SPS” frequency rank
86343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spies SPS
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs speisen schizoide Persönlichkeitsstörung

Letter map: spies vs SPS

Shared letters muted; letters that set spies and SPS apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
spies
3 ch
SPS

Grammar separator: spies vs SPS

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: spies is averb and SPSanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spies is recorded at frequency rank #43,504, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpiːs]. SPS is at rank #42,839, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced […].

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 86343, this pair ranks #95,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of spies vs SPS

Shared letters: ps. Private to "spies": ei. Private to "SPS": -.

"spies" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "SPS" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spiespsies · sipes · speis · spiess · spise · sppies · sspies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "spies" and "SPS" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spies" is a verb and "SPS" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "spies" vs "SPS" - which ranks higher?
"SPS" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,839 in our German list, against #43,504 for "spies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "spies" vs "SPS" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "SPS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spies" and "SPS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs SPS". 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 #95,105 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