ADACvsadeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ADAC is a noun, ade is a phrase, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ADAC” is a noun and “ade” is a phrase - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,031
“ADAC” frequency rank
#25,874
“ade” frequency rank
35905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ADAC ade
Definition Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club ehemals viel weiter verbreiteter, jetzt im Fränkischen, Schwäbischen und Oberschwäbischen beliebter Abschiedsgruß

Where the eye mixes ADAC and ade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
ADAC
3 ch
ade

Why the eye confuses ADAC with ade

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ADAC is [ˌaːdeːʔaːˈt͡seː] while ade is [aˈdeː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs phrase), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ADAC is recorded at frequency rank #10,031, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˌaːdeːʔaːˈt͡seː]. ade is at rank #25,874, tagged as aphrase, pronounced [aˈdeː].

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 35905, this pair ranks #1,628,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ADAC vs ade

Shared letters: ad. Private to "ADAC": c. Private to "ade": e.

"ADAC" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ade" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ADACaadc · adacc · adca · addac · daac

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ADAC" for "ade" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ADAC" is a noun and "ade" a phrase, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ADAC" or "ade"?
"ADAC" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,031 in our German list, against #25,874 for "ade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ADAC" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,628,655 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ADAC" and "ade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ade vs AUD". 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 #1,628,655 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list