SprechvssprechenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#26,177
“Sprech” frequency rank
#653
“sprechen” frequency rank
26830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Sprech sprechen
Definition Jargon einer bestimmten sozialen Gruppe mündliche Äußerungen in Form von Lauten, Wörtern und/oder Sätzen von sich geben

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Sprech and sprechen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Sprech
8 ch
sprechen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Sprech is [ʃpʁɛç] while sprechen is [ˈʃpʁɛçn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Sprech” sits inside “sprechen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Sprech is recorded at frequency rank #26,177, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁɛç]. sprechen is at rank #653, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpʁɛçn̩].

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 26830, this pair ranks #1,811,694 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Sprech vs sprechen

Shared letters: cehprs. Private to "Sprech": -. Private to "sprechen": n.

"Sprech" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "sprechen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Sprechpsrech · sperch · spprech · sprceh · sprecch · sprechh · sprehc · sprrech
  • sprechenpsrechen · sperchen · spprechen · sprcehen · sprecchen · sprecehn · sprechenn · sprechhen

Frequency comparison

Sprech#26,177
sprechen#653

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Sprech" and "sprechen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Sprech" is a noun and "sprechen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Sprech" or "sprechen"?
"sprechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #653 in our German list, against #26,177 for "Sprech". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Sprech vs sprechen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Sprech”; for a verb, it's “sprechen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Sprech” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list