spionieren

[ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən]

/[ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“spionieren” is uncommon German (frequency #50,066 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,066
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - einer Agententätigkeit nachgehen

Corpus desk

Index DE-spionieren · spionieren · German

spionieren · rank #50,066 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,066
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH specific

Nearest frequency peer: specific (-2 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 „spionieren“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for spionieren
PropertyValue
Headwordspionieren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən]
Letters10
Frequency rank#50,066
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „spionieren“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „specific“ (#50,064), „Sozialwissenschaft“ (#50,063), „Stadtmauern“ (#50,069). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „spionieren“ bei #50,066. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spionieren is uncommon German at frequency #50,066 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for spionieren in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is spionieren, spelled S-P-I-O-N-I-E-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    einer Agententätigkeit nachgehen
  2. 2
    versuchen etwas herauszufinden, ohne dass dies von Betroffenen bemerkt wird

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mata Hari spionierte für Deutschland.
  2. Ich vermute, dass er spioniert, weil ich ihn schon ein paar Mal an den Mülltonnen und hinter dem Haus gesehen habe.

This word in other languages

spy(English)espionner(Français)

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 "spionieren"?
"spionieren" is spelled S-P-I-O-N-I-E-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən].
What does "spionieren" mean?
As a verb, "spionieren" means: einer Agententätigkeit nachgehen
How do you pronounce "spionieren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spionieren" is [ʃpi̯oˈniːʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spionieren" come from?
"spionieren" 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 "spionieren", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

stagnieren#50,071Sklavinnen#50,058sterbliche#50,077selektiven#50,041

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list