den Spieß umdrehen

[…]

/[…]/ phrase

The verdict

“den Spieß umdrehen” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
18
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — eine nachteilige gegen eine vorteilhaftere Stellung oder Position tauschen; meistens direkt zwischen zwei Kontrahenten, ergo ergreift stets der Benachteiligte die Initiative zu diesem ‚Tausch‘, bei...

Key facts for den Spieß umdrehen
PropertyValue
Headwordden Spieß umdrehen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[…]
Letters18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “den Spieß umdrehen” sits in German frequency

den Spieß umdrehen falls outside the top-100,000 ranked German words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for den Spieß umdrehen is 18 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as […]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "eine nachteilige gegen eine vorteilhaftere Stellung oder Position tauschen; meistens direkt zwischen zwei Kontrahenten, ergo ergreift stets der Benachteiligte die Initiative zu diesem ‚Tausch‘, bei...".

No misspelling variants are generated for den Spieß umdrehen in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is den Spieß umdrehen, spelled D-E-N- -S-P-I-E-S-S- -U-M-D-R-E-H-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    eine nachteilige gegen eine vorteilhaftere Stellung oder Position tauschen; meistens direkt zwischen zwei Kontrahenten, ergo ergreift stets der Benachteiligte die Initiative zu diesem ‚Tausch‘, bei dem in der Regel die gleichen ‚Waffen‘ (Argumente, Verhalten) benutzt werden

Synonyms

jemandem etwas mit gleicher Münze heimzahlenjemanden mit den eigenen Waffen schlagen

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “den Spieß umdrehen, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/den-spie-umdrehen

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "den Spieß umdrehen"?
"den Spieß umdrehen" is spelled D-E-N- -S-P-I-E-SS- -U-M-D-R-E-H-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "den Spieß umdrehen" mean?
As a phrase, "den Spieß umdrehen" means: eine nachteilige gegen eine vorteilhaftere Stellung oder Position tauschen; meistens direkt zwischen zwei Kontrahenten, ergo ergreift stets der Benachteiligte die Initiative zu diesem ‚Tausch‘, bei...
How do you pronounce "den Spieß umdrehen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "den Spieß umdrehen" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "den Spieß umdrehen" come from?
"den Spieß umdrehen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “den Spieß umdrehen”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is D-E-N- -S-P-I-E-S-S- -U-M-D-R-E-H-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as […] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list