springvsSprüngeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,369
“spring” frequency rank
#15,484
“Sprünge” frequency rank
25853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spring Sprünge
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs springen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Sprung

Where the eye mixes spring and Sprünge

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

6 ch
spring
7 ch
Sprünge

Look-alike desk: spring vs Sprünge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spring is [ʃpʁɪŋ] while Sprünge is [ˈʃpʁʏŋə]. 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 25853, 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]. Sprünge is at rank #15,484, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpʁʏŋə].

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 25853, this pair ranks #1,827,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spring vs Sprünge

Shared letters: gnprs. Private to "spring": i. Private to "Sprünge": .

"spring" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "Sprünge" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • springpsring · spirng · sppring · sprign · springg · sprinng · sprnig · sprring

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spring" for "Sprünge" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spring" is a verb and "Sprünge" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "spring" or "Sprünge"?
"spring" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,369 in our German list, against #15,484 for "Sprünge". 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 "spring" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sprünge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,827,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spring" and "Sprünge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sprengte vs Sprünge". 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 #1,827,023 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