Which to use
“Adele” is a name and “adult” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,148
- “Adele” frequency rank
- #22,243
- “adult” frequency rank
- 40391
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Adele | adult |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weiblicher Vorname | erwachsen, geschlechtsreif |
Where the eye mixes Adele and adult
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Adele vs adult
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Adele is [aˈdeːlə] while adult is [aˈdʊlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Adele is recorded at frequency rank #18,148, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈdeːlə]. adult is at rank #22,243, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aˈdʊlt].
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 40391, this pair ranks #1,509,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Adele vs adult
Shared letters: adl. Private to "Adele": e. Private to "adult": tu.
"Adele" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "adult" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Adele" and "adult" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Adele" or "adult"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Adele" and "adult" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Adele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,509,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Adele" and "adult" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Adele vs apel". 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 #1,509,840 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.