telefonieren

[teləfoˈniːʁən]

/[teləfoˈniːʁən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“telefonieren” has 17 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #7,404. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,404
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords
17
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - mithilfe eines Telefons mit jemandem sprechen

Corpus desk

Index DE-telefonieren · telefonieren · German

telefonieren · rank #7,404 · 17 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,404
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 17 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH tauchen

Nearest frequency peer: tauchen (-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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „telefonieren“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „telefonieren“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

telefonieren vs telefoniert
83% similar
telefonieren vs telefoniere
92% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for telefonieren
PropertyValue
Headwordtelefonieren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[teləfoˈniːʁən]
Letters12
Frequency rank#7,404
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „telefonieren“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).telefonierenliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „tauchen“ (#7,403), „Tokio“ (#7,405), „Takt“ (#7,402). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „telefonieren“ bei #7,404. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 17 spelling variants around telefonieren (IPA [teləfoˈniːʁən]), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,404 among 2,684 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for telefonieren, with forms such as "etlefonieren", "teelfonieren", and "teleffonieren". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "telefoniert", "telefoniere", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is telefonieren, spelled T-E-L-E-F-O-N-I-E-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    mithilfe eines Telefons mit jemandem sprechen
  2. 2
    jemandem etwas telefonisch wissen lassen
  3. 3
    mit jemandem telefonisch in Verbindung treten

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sei gefälligst still, ich telefoniere gerade!
  2. Am besten wird es sein, wenn wir morgen noch einmal miteinander telefonieren.

Synonyms

fernsprechenanrufenantelefonierenantelephonierendurchrufenanbimmelnanklingelnNamibiaanbellenaufringenankhonkhothan

This word in other languages

telephone(English)telefonear(Español)passer un coup de fil(Français)telefonar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etlefonieren
  • teelfonieren
  • teleffonieren
  • telefnoieren
  • telefoineren
  • telefoneiren
  • telefonieern
  • telefonierenn
  • telefonierne
  • telefonierren
  • telefonireen
  • telefonnieren
  • teleofnieren
  • telfeonieren
  • tellefonieren
  • tleefonieren
  • ttelefonieren

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of telefonieren - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

etlefonieren2teelfonieren2teleffonieren1telefnoieren2telefoineren2telefoneiren2telefonieern2telefonierenn1
Edit distance from "telefonieren"

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 "telefonieren"?
"telefonieren" is spelled T-E-L-E-F-O-N-I-E-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [teləfoˈniːʁən].
What does "telefonieren" mean?
As a verb, "telefonieren" means: mithilfe eines Telefons mit jemandem sprechen
What words are commonly confused with "telefonieren"?
"telefonieren" is commonly confused with "telefoniert", "telefoniere". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "telefonieren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "telefonieren" is [teləfoˈniːʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "telefonieren" come from?
"telefonieren" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "telefonieren", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Verarbeitung#7,412schwedischen#7,392ordentlichen#7,373gefährlichen#7,475

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (17 here; floor ≥5).

Spaziergang17 variantsProblematik17 variantsüberfordert17 variantserleichtern17 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list