detective

[…]

/[…]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“detective” has 13 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #25,097. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#25,097
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Detektiv

Corpus desk

Index DE-detective · detective · German

detective · rank #25,097 · 13 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #25,097
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Depots

Nearest frequency peer: Depots (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „detective“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „detective“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

detective vs Detektiv
67% similar
detective vs Detektive
78% similar
detective vs of
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for detective
PropertyValue
Headworddetective
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[…]
Letters9
Frequency rank#25,097
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „detective“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).detectiveliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Depots“ (#25,096), „Demütigung“ (#25,095), „eat“ (#25,099). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „detective“ bei #25,097. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around detective (IPA […]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #25,097 among 2,764 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for detective, with forms such as "ddetective", "deetctive", and "detcetive". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Detektiv", "Detektive", "of", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is detective, spelled D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Detektiv
  2. 2
    Kriminalbeamter

This word in other languages

détective(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddetective
  • deetctive
  • detcetive
  • detecctive
  • detecitve
  • detectiev
  • detectivve
  • detecttive
  • detectvie
  • detetcive
  • dettective
  • dteective
  • edtective

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of detective - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddetective1deetctive2detcetive2detecctive1detecitve2detectiev2detectivve1detecttive1
Edit distance from "detective"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "detective"?
"detective" is spelled D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "detective" mean?
As a noun, "detective" means: Detektiv
What words are commonly confused with "detective"?
"detective" is commonly confused with "Detektiv", "Detektive", "of". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "detective"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "detective" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "detective" come from?
"detective" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "detective", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ehrfurcht#25,100Chroniken#25,088bleibende#25,077erkundigt#25,117

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

erkennbare13 variantsbezogenen13 variantsbewertete13 variantsFanatiker13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list