Which to use
“spring” is a verb and “Sprint” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,369
- “spring” frequency rank
- #11,532
- “Sprint” frequency rank
- 21901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spring | Sprint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs springen | das Zurücklegen einer Kurzstrecke in der größtmöglichen Geschwindigkeit (in verschiedenen Bereichen des Sports, z. B. in der Leichtathletik, im Radsport, im Schwimmen, im Eisschnelllauf oder im Skilanglauf) |
Where the eye mixes spring and Sprint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between spring and Sprint
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spring is [ʃpʁɪŋ] while Sprint is [ʃpʁɪnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “spring” becomes t in “Sprint”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spring is recorded at frequency rank #10,369, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpʁɪŋ]. Sprint is at rank #11,532, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁɪnt].
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 21901, this pair ranks #1,880,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spring vs Sprint
Shared letters: inprs. Private to "spring": g. Private to "Sprint": t.
"spring" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC · "Sprint" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "spring" for "Sprint" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "spring" or "Sprint" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spring" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sprint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,880,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spring" and "Sprint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sprint vs spritz". 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 #1,880,780 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.