adevsAdelsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,874
“ade” frequency rank
#18,457
“Adels” frequency rank
44331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ade Adels
Definition ehemals viel weiter verbreiteter, jetzt im Fränkischen, Schwäbischen und Oberschwäbischen beliebter Abschiedsgruß Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Adel

Where the eye mixes ade and Adels

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ade
5 ch
Adels

Why the eye confuses ade with Adels

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ade is [aˈdeː] while Adels is [ˈaːdl̩s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ade” sits inside “Adels”, and the parts of speech differ too (phrase vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ade is recorded at frequency rank #25,874, classified as aphrase, pronounced [aˈdeː]. Adels is at rank #18,457, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaːdl̩s].

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 44331, this pair ranks #1,389,673 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ade vs Adels

Shared letters: ade. Private to "ade": -. Private to "Adels": ls.

"ade" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Adels" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Adelsaddels · adells · adelss · adesl · adles · aedls

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ade" for "Adels" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ade" is a phrase and "Adels" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ade" vs "Adels" - which ranks higher?
"Adels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,457 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 "ade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Adels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,389,673 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ade" and "Adels" 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 #1,389,673 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