Referee

[ˈʁɛfəʁi]

/[ˈʁɛfəʁi]/ noun

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

The verdict

“Referee” is uncommon German (frequency #77,232 among 2,984 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,232
frequency rank, German
2,984
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Person, die bei einer Sportveranstaltung sicherstellt, dass sich die Sportler an die Regeln halten

Corpus desk

Index DE-referee · Referee · German

Referee · rank #77,232 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,232
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,984
  • PHOTO-FINISH reduziertes

Nearest frequency peer: reduziertes (-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 „Referee“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Referee
PropertyValue
HeadwordReferee
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈʁɛfəʁi]
Letters7
Frequency rank#77,232
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Referee“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).Refereefällt 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: „reduziertes“ (#77,231), „reformatorischen“ (#77,233), „Redensarten“ (#77,230). Unter 2,984 „R“-Lemmata liegt „Referee“ bei #77,232. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Referee is uncommon German at frequency #77,232 among 2,984 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈʁɛfəʁi]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Person, die bei einer Sportveranstaltung sicherstellt, dass sich die Sportler an die Regeln halten".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Referee, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Referee, spelled R-E-F-E-R-E-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Person, die bei einer Sportveranstaltung sicherstellt, dass sich die Sportler an die Regeln halten

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. „Nach Aufklärung durch den Referee war zumindest eines klar – wer zuerst Punkte erzielt, ist der neue Champion.“

Synonyms

SchiedsrichterUnparteiischer

This word in other languages

referee(English)

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 "Referee"?
"Referee" is spelled R-E-F-E-R-E-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʁɛfəʁi].
What does "Referee" mean?
As a noun, "Referee" means: Person, die bei einer Sportveranstaltung sicherstellt, dass sich die Sportler an die Regeln halten
How do you pronounce "Referee"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Referee" is [ˈʁɛfəʁi]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Referee" come from?
"Referee" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Rochade#77,251Salinen#77,263Samuels#77,265potente#77,187

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list