Spinner vs Spinnerei, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,097
“Spinner” frequency rank: #44,930
“Spinnerei” frequency rank: 54027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Spinner	Spinnerei
Definition	Person, die das Spinnen betreibt, in einer Spinnerei arbeitet, Garn herstellt	Handlung/Vorgang, wobei Fäden entstehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Spinner and Spinnerei apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

Spinner

9 ch

Spinnerei

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Spinner ([ˈʃpɪnɐ]) and Spinnerei ([ʃpɪnəˈʁaɪ̯]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Spinner” sits inside “Spinnerei”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spinner is recorded at frequency rank #9,097, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɪnɐ]. Spinnerei is at rank #44,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpɪnəˈʁaɪ̯].

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 54027, this pair ranks #1,034,949 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Spinner vs Spinnerei

Shared letters: einprs. Private to "Spinner": -. Private to "Spinnerei": -.

"Spinner" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "Spinnerei" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

Spinner ← psinner · sipnner · spinenr · spiner · spinnerr · spinnre · spniner · sppinner
Spinnerei ← psinnerei · sipnnerei · spinenrei · spinerei · spinneeri · spinnerie · spinnerrei · spinnreei

Frequency comparison

Spinner#9,097

Spinnerei#44,930

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Spinner" and "Spinnerei" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpɪnɐ] versus [ʃpɪnəˈʁaɪ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Spinner" or "Spinnerei"?

"Spinner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,097 in our German list, against #44,930 for "Spinnerei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Spinner vs Spinnerei

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Spinner” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable