SpitzevsspritzteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,570
“Spitze” frequency rank
#36,033
“spritzte” frequency rank
37603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spitze spritzte
Definition der oberste, schmal zulaufende Teil eines Gegenstandes oder einer Formation 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs spritzen

Where the eye mixes Spitze and spritzte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Spitze runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against spritzte's 8 (CCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Spitze
8 ch
spritzte

Why the eye confuses Spitze with spritzte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spitze is [ˈʃpɪt͡sə] while spritzte is [ˈʃpʁɪt͡stə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spitze is recorded at frequency rank #1,570, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpɪt͡sə]. spritzte is at rank #36,033, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpʁɪt͡stə].

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 37603, this pair ranks #1,585,852 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Spitze vs spritzte

Shared letters: eipstz. Private to "Spitze": -. Private to "spritzte": r.

"Spitze" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "spritzte" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spitze ← psitze · siptze · spitez · spittze · spitzze · spizte · sppitze · sptize
  • spritzte ← psritzte · spirtzte · sppritzte · sprittzte · spritzet · spritztte · spritzzte · spriztte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Spitze" for "spritzte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spitze" is a noun and "spritzte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Spitze" or "spritzte"?
"Spitze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,570 in our German list, against #36,033 for "spritzte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Spitze" and "spritzte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spitze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spritzte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,585,852 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spitze" and "spritzte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spritz vs spritzte". 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 #1,585,852 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