Zeit
[t͡saɪ̯t]
The verdict
“Zeit” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #101 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #101
- frequency rank, German
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - der stetige Ablauf von Zeiteinheiten
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Zeit |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [t͡saɪ̯t] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #101 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Zeit” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Zeit is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [t͡saɪ̯t]. Corpus data places it at rank #101 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Zeit, with forms such as "ezit", "zeitt", and "zeti". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Zi", "zig", "zip", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Zeit, spelled Z-E-I-T.
Definition
- 1der stetige Ablauf von Zeiteinheiten
- 2begrenzter Abschnitt innerhalb des Ablaufes von Zeiteinheiten
- 3bestimmter Moment im Ablauf von Zeiteinheiten
- 4Gegenwart, das zeitliche Jetzt
- 5grammatische Kategorie des Zeitworts zur Anzeige einer Zeit oder Zeitstufe
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ezit,zeitt,zeti,ziet,zzeit
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Zeit - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Zeit"?
What does "Zeit" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Zeit"?
How do you pronounce "Zeit"?
What language does "Zeit" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Zeit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is Z-E-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [t͡saɪ̯t] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Zi” - see the side-by-side comparison. Zeit vs Zi
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.