sperren
German, verb
sperren is spelled S-P-E-R-R-E-N (7 letters) and appears 9.3 times per million words in written German, the 7,460th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Sperren is a German verb meaning “to bar (entry to a place or system)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Sperren is a different word: “plural of Sperre”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “den Zugang zu einem Gebiet oder Gebäude oder System verhindern”.
What does sperren mean in English?
verb
- 1
to bar (entry to a place or system)
- 2
to space out the letters of a word or text, for emphasis
Dieser Satz ist nicht gesperrt gedruckt. Dieser Satz ist gesperrt gedruckt.
- 3
to block, lock (to set measures in order to prevent access to a resource)
- 4
to deactivate, to disable (to put a software functionality out of operation)
noun
- 1
plural of Sperre
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. den Zugang zu einem Gebiet oder Gebäude oder System verhindern 2. ein Vertragsverhältnis von Seiten des Anbieters vorübergehend aussetzen oder endgültig beenden 3. die Gültigkeit eines Schecks beenden 4. eine Person vorübergehend oder auf Dauer vom organisierten Sport ausschließen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of sperren
- sperrt present singular third-person
- sperrte past
- gesperrt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sperrend participle present
- sperre first-person indicative present
- sperrst indicative present second-person
- sperrest second-person singular subjunctive
- sperret plural second-person subjunctive
- sperrten first-person indicative plural
- sperrtest indicative preterite second-person
- sperrtet indicative plural preterite
- sperr imperative second-person singular
- habe gesperrt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gesperrt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- sperre! imperative singular
- sperr! imperative singular
- sperrt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to sperren
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is sperren in German?
sperren appears 9.3 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).