springvsSpritWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,369
“spring” frequency rank
#18,705
“Sprit” frequency rank
29074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spring Sprit
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs springen Kraftstoff, Benzin

Where the eye mixes spring and Sprit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
spring
5 ch
Sprit

Why the eye confuses spring with Sprit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spring is [ʃpʁɪŋ] while Sprit is [ʃpʁɪt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29074, 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]. Sprit is at rank #18,705, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpʁɪt].

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 29074, this pair ranks #1,773,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spring vs Sprit

Shared letters: iprs. Private to "spring": gn. Private to "Sprit": t.

"spring" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "Sprit" · 5 letters · shape CCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • springpsring · spirng · sppring · sprign · springg · sprinng · sprnig · sprring
  • Spritpsrit · spirt · spprit · spritt · sprrit · sprti · srpit · ssprit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "spring" and "Sprit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spring" is a verb and "Sprit" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "spring" vs "Sprit" - which ranks higher?
"spring" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,369 in our German list, against #18,705 for "Sprit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Sprit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,773,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spring" and "Sprit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sprit vs surft". 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 #1,773,532 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