speaking

[…]

/[…]/ verb

The verdict

“speaking” is uncommon German (frequency #63,790 among 107,600 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,790
frequency rank, German
107,600
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs speak

Key facts for speaking
PropertyValue
Headwordspeaking
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[…]
Letters8
Frequency rank#63,790
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “speaking” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). speaking lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

speaking is uncommon German at frequency #63,790 among 107,600 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs speak".

speaking has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is speaking, spelled S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs speak

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 "speaking"?
"speaking" is spelled S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "speaking" mean?
As a verb, "speaking" means: Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs speak
How do you pronounce "speaking"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "speaking" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "speaking" come from?
"speaking" 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 “speaking”

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

  • The one correct German spelling is S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G - 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

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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