spinnenvsspringenTell them apart

Which to use

“spinnen” and “springen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,368
“spinnen” frequency rank
#4,306
“springen” frequency rank
14674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spinnen springen
Definition einen Faden herstellen, Erstellung von Garn aus einzelnen Fasern hochschnellen und sich ein kurzes Stück durch die Luft bewegen

Where the eye mixes spinnen and springen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
spinnen
8 ch
springen

Look-alike desk: spinnen vs springen

A purely visual mix-up. spinnen ([ˈʃpɪnən]) and springen ([ˈʃpʁɪŋən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spinnen is recorded at frequency rank #10,368, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpɪnən]. springen is at rank #4,306, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpʁɪŋən].

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 14674, this pair ranks #1,949,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spinnen vs springen

Shared letters: einps. Private to "spinnen": -. Private to "springen": gr.

"spinnen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "springen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spinnenpsinnen · sipnnen · spinen · spinenn · spinnenn · spinnne · spninen · sppinnen
  • springenpsringen · spirngen · sppringen · sprignen · sprinegn · springenn · springgen · springne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "spinnen" and "springen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpɪnən] versus [ˈʃpʁɪŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "spinnen" vs "springen" - which ranks higher?
"springen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,306 in our German list, against #10,368 for "spinnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "spinnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "springen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spinnen" and "springen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "springen vs springende". 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 #1,949,544 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