sprengtvsspringWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,715
“sprengt” frequency rank
#10,369
“spring” frequency rank
34084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sprengt spring
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs sprengen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs springen

Where the eye mixes sprengt and spring

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sprengt runs 7 letters (CCCVCCC) against spring's 6 (CCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
sprengt
6 ch
spring

Why the eye confuses sprengt with spring

A purely visual mix-up. sprengt ([ʃpʁɛŋt]) and spring ([ʃpʁɪŋ]) 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 34084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sprengt is recorded at frequency rank #23,715, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpʁɛŋt]. spring is at rank #10,369, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʃpʁɪŋ].

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 34084, this pair ranks #1,671,369 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sprengt vs spring

Shared letters: gnprs. Private to "sprengt": et. Private to "spring": i.

"sprengt" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCC  ·  "spring" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sprengt ← psrengt · sperngt · spprengt · spregnt · sprenggt · sprengtt · sprenngt · sprentg
  • spring ← psring · spirng · sppring · sprign · springg · sprinng · sprnig · sprring

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sprengt" for "spring" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʃpʁɛŋt] versus [ʃpʁɪŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sprengt" or "spring"?
"spring" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,369 in our German list, against #23,715 for "sprengt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sprengt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spring" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,671,369 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sprengt" and "spring" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sprengt vs sprengte". 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 #1,671,369 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