criminalvsordersConfusable pair

Quick tell: criminal is a adjective, orders is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“criminal” is an adjective and “orders” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,036
“criminal” frequency rank
#49,941
“orders” frequency rank
87977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criminal orders
Definition kriminell, verbrecherisch 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs order

Letter map: criminal vs orders

Shared letters muted; letters that set criminal and orders apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

8 ch
criminal
6 ch
orders

Grammar separator: criminal vs orders

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: criminal is anadjective and ordersaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

criminal is recorded at frequency rank #38,036, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. orders is at rank #49,941, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 87977, this pair ranks #73,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of criminal vs orders

Shared letters: r. Private to "criminal": acilmn. Private to "orders": deos.

"criminal" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "orders" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criminalccriminal · cirminal · criimnal · crimianl · criminall · criminla · criminnal · crimminal
  • ordersodrers · ordders · orderrs · orderss · ordesr · ordres · oredrs · orrders

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "criminal" and "orders" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "criminal" is an adjective and "orders" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "criminal" or "orders" show up more?
"criminal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,036 in our German list, against #49,941 for "orders". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "criminal" and "orders".

  • Full dictionary entry for "criminal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "orders" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criminal" and "orders" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orders vs puzzles". 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 #73,715 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