sprichvsSpruchWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#3,998
“sprich” frequency rank
#4,652
“Spruch” frequency rank
8650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sprich Spruch
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs sprechen kurzes vorgefertigtes Ensemble von Wörtern, ähnlich dem Vers

Where the eye mixes sprich and Spruch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sprich
6 ch
Spruch

Why the eye confuses sprich with Spruch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sprich is [ʃpʁɪç] while Spruch is [ʃpʁʊx]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “sprich” becomes u in “Spruch”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sprich is recorded at frequency rank #3,998, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpʁɪç]. Spruch is at rank #4,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁʊx].

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 8650, this pair ranks #1,983,431 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sprich vs Spruch

Shared letters: chprs. Private to "sprich": i. Private to "Spruch": u.

"sprich" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "Spruch" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sprichpsrich · spirch · spprich · sprcih · spricch · sprichh · sprihc · sprrich
  • Spruchpsruch · sppruch · sprcuh · sprruch · sprucch · spruchh · spruhc · spurch

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sprich" for "Spruch" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sprich" is a verb and "Spruch" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "sprich" or "Spruch" show up more?
"sprich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,998 in our German list, against #4,652 for "Spruch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sprich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spruch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,431 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sprich" and "Spruch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Spruch vs struck". 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 #1,983,431 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