Skip to main content
PlainSpell

spitzeln

German, verb

spitzeln is spelled S-P-I-T-Z-E-L-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written German, the 105,614th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Spitzeln is a German verb meaning “to spy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Spitzeln is a different word: “dative plural of Spitzel”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Person beobachten und aushorchen, oft im Auftrag eines Dritten”.

What does spitzeln mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    derogatoryto spy

verb

  1. 1

    to toe-poke

  2. 2

    slangto peep out

noun

as Spitzeln
  1. 1

    dative plural of Spitzel

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. eine Person beobachten und aushorchen, oft im Auftrag eines Dritten

verb: 1. mit der Schuhspitze und ohne viel Schwung den Ball treten/schlagen

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 spitzeln

  • spitzelt present singular third-person
  • spitzelte past
  • gespitzelt participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • spitzelnd participle present
  • spitzle first-person indicative present
  • spitzele first-person indicative present
  • spitzel first-person indicative present
  • spitzelst indicative present second-person
  • spitzelest second-person singular subjunctive
  • spitzlest second-person singular subjunctive
  • spitzelet plural second-person subjunctive
  • spitzlet plural second-person subjunctive
  • spitzelten first-person indicative plural
  • spitzeltest indicative preterite second-person
  • spitzeltet indicative plural preterite
  • spitzel! imperative singular
  • spitzele! imperative singular

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How common is spitzeln in German?

spitzeln appears about once in every 5 million words in written German.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after spitzeln