spültvsSpurTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,379
“spült” frequency rank
#2,469
“Spur” frequency rank
36848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spült Spur
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs spülen hinweisgebende Hinterlassenschaft

Where the eye mixes spült and Spur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. spült runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against Spur's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
spült
4 ch
Spur

Visual trap between spült and Spur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spült is [ʃpyːlt] while Spur is [ʃpuːɐ̯]. 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 36848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spült is recorded at frequency rank #34,379, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃpyːlt]. Spur is at rank #2,469, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʃpuːɐ̯].

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 36848, this pair ranks #1,605,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spült vs Spur

Shared letters: ps. Private to "spült": ltü. Private to "Spur": ru.

"spült" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Spur" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Spur ← psur · sppur · spru · spurr · sspur · supr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spült" for "Spur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spült" is a verb and "Spur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "spült" or "Spur" show up more?
"Spur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,469 in our German list, against #34,379 for "spült". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "spült" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,605,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spült" and "Spur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skull vs spült". 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 #1,605,193 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