Which to use
“able” and “agile” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,552
- “able” frequency rank
- #28,987
- “agile” frequency rank
- 67539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | able | agile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in der Lage sein; etwas tun können | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs agil |
Where the eye mixes able and agile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: able vs agile
A purely visual mix-up. able ([ˈeɪbl]) and agile ([aˈɡiːlə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
able is recorded at frequency rank #38,552, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeɪbl]. agile is at rank #28,987, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aˈɡiːlə].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 67539, this pair ranks #536,880 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of able vs agile
Shared letters: ael. Private to "able": b. Private to "agile": gi.
"able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "agile" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "able" and "agile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "able" or "agile"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "able" and "agile" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "able" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #536,880 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "able" and "agile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "able vs Atze". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #536,880 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.