StreifevsStreifenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Streife” and “Streifen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,722
“Streife” frequency rank
#4,161
“Streifen” frequency rank
23883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Streife Streifen
Definition Personengruppe (von Militär, Polizei, Sicherheitsdienst), die Fahrten oder Gänge zwecks Kontrolle eines Bereichs durchführt ein langer, schmaler, farblich abgehobener Abschnitt von einer Fläche

Where the eye mixes Streife and Streifen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Streife
8 ch
Streifen

Visual trap between Streife and Streifen

A purely visual mix-up. Streife ([ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fə]) and Streifen ([ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Streife” sits inside “Streifen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Streife is recorded at frequency rank #19,722, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fə]. Streifen is at rank #4,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fn̩].

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 23883, this pair ranks #1,855,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Streife vs Streifen

Shared letters: efirst. Private to "Streife": -. Private to "Streifen": n.

"Streife" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV  ·  "Streifen" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Streifesrteife · sstreife · sterife · strefie · streief · streiffe · striefe · strreife
  • Streifensrteifen · sstreifen · sterifen · strefien · streiefn · streifenn · streiffen · streifne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Streife" and "Streifen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fə] versus [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Streife" or "Streifen"?
"Streifen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,161 in our German list, against #19,722 for "Streife". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Streife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Streifen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Streife" and "Streifen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Streife vs Streiter". 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 #1,855,336 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