Spritze vs spritzte, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,221
“Spritze” frequency rank: #36,033
“spritzte” frequency rank: 51254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Spritze	spritzte
Definition	medizinisches Gerät, um Flüssigkeiten in einen Körper zu injizieren	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs spritzen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Spritze and spritzte apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

Spritze

8 ch

spritzte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Spritze is [ˈʃpʁɪt͡sə] while spritzte is [ˈʃpʁɪt͡stə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Spritze is recorded at frequency rank #15,221, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpʁɪt͡sə]. spritzte is at rank #36,033, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpʁɪt͡stə].

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 51254, this pair ranks #1,142,549 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Spritze vs spritzte

Shared letters: eiprstz. Private to "Spritze": -. Private to "spritzte": -.

"Spritze" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCCV · "spritzte" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Spritze ← psritze · spirtze · sppritze · spritez · sprittze · spritzze · sprizte · sprritze
spritzte ← psritzte · spirtzte · sppritzte · sprittzte · spritzet · spritztte · spritzzte · spriztte

Frequency comparison

Spritze#15,221

spritzte#36,033

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Spritze" and "spritzte" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Spritze" is a noun and "spritzte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Spritze" or "spritzte"?

"Spritze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,221 in our German list, against #36,033 for "spritzte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Spritze vs spritzte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Spritze”; for a verb, it's “spritzte”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Spritze” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable