peilen

[ˈpaɪ̯lən]

/[ˈpaɪ̯lən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“peilen” is uncommon German (frequency #72,801 among 3,409 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,801
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - die Richtung, Ausrichtung oder Position bestimmen

Corpus desk

Index DE-peilen · peilen · German

peilen · rank #72,801 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,801
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH pedantisch

Nearest frequency peer: pedantisch (-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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „peilen“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „peilen“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for peilen
PropertyValue
Headwordpeilen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈpaɪ̯lən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#72,801
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „peilen“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).peilenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „pedantisch“ (#72,800), „Patricks“ (#72,799), „Pathologe“ (#72,798). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „peilen“ bei #72,801. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

peilen is uncommon German at frequency #72,801 among 3,409 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈpaɪ̯lən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for peilen, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is peilen, spelled P-E-I-L-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    die Richtung, Ausrichtung oder Position bestimmen
  2. 2
    die Tiefe eines Gewässers bestimmen
  3. 3
    übertragen, eine Situation oder einen Sachverhalt verstehen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how peilen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Peile den Standpunkt des Leuchtturms!
  2. Wir peilten die Bucht, um Veränderungen der Wassertiefe festzuhalten.

Synonyms

kapierenraffen

This word in other languages

suss(English)pillar(Español)sonder(Français)sondar(Português)

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 "peilen"?
"peilen" is spelled P-E-I-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈpaɪ̯lən].
What does "peilen" mean?
As a verb, "peilen" means: die Richtung, Ausrichtung oder Position bestimmen
How do you pronounce "peilen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "peilen" is [ˈpaɪ̯lən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "peilen" come from?
"peilen" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "peilen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

potato#72,824natter#72,763Pussys#72,842rahner#72,851

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list