verspieltvsverspielteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,703
“verspielt” frequency rank
#40,936
“verspielte” frequency rank
55639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verspielt verspielte
Definition nur spielen wollend, gern spielend; leicht ablenkbar Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verspielt

Where the eye mixes verspielt and verspielte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verspielt runs 9 letters (CVCCCVVCC) against verspielte's 10 (CVCCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verspielt
10 ch
verspielte

Why the eye confuses verspielt with verspielte

A purely visual mix-up. verspielt ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːlt]) and verspielte ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːltə]) 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) - “verspielt” sits inside “verspielte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verspielt is recorded at frequency rank #14,703, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːlt]. verspielte is at rank #40,936, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːltə].

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 55639, this pair ranks #971,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verspielt vs verspielte

Shared letters: eilprstv. Private to "verspielt": -. Private to "verspielte": -.

"verspielt" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCC  ·  "verspielte" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verspielt ← evrspielt · verpsielt · verrspielt · versipelt · verspeilt · verspiellt · verspieltt · verspietl
  • verspielte ← evrspielte · verpsielte · verrspielte · versipelte · verspeilte · verspielet · verspiellte · verspieltte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verspielt" for "verspielte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːlt] versus [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈʃpiːltə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verspielt" or "verspielte"?
"verspielt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,703 in our German list, against #40,936 for "verspielte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verspielt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verspielte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #971,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verspielt" and "verspielte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verspielen vs verspielte". 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 #971,746 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