SpreuvsspüreConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#44,931
“Spreu” frequency rank
#11,758
“spüre” frequency rank
56689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Spreu spüre
Definition Dreschabfälle des Getreides aus Spelzen, Grannen und entkörnten Ährchen, die als Viehfutter verwendet werden 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spüren

Where the eye mixes Spreu and spüre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Spreu (CCCVV) and spüre (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Spreu
5 ch
spüre

Look-alike desk: Spreu vs spüre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spreu is [ʃpʁɔɪ̯] while spüre is [ˈʃpyːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spreu is recorded at frequency rank #44,931, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁɔɪ̯]. spüre is at rank #11,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpyːʁə].

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 56689, this pair ranks #930,415 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Spreu vs spüre

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "Spreu": u. Private to "spüre": ü.

"Spreu" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV  ·  "spüre" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spreu ← psreu · speru · sppreu · sprreu · sprue · srpeu · sspreu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Spreu" for "spüre" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spreu" is a noun and "spüre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Spreu" vs "spüre" - which ranks higher?
"spüre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,758 in our German list, against #44,931 for "Spreu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Spreu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spüre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #930,415 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Spreu" and "spüre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sire vs Spreu". 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 #930,415 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