dreckigvsdreckigeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dreckig” and “dreckige” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,260
“dreckig” frequency rank
#18,858
“dreckige” frequency rank
31118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dreckig dreckige
Definition schmutzig, von Dreck befallen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dreckig

Where the eye mixes dreckig and dreckige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
dreckig
8 ch
dreckige

Visual trap between dreckig and dreckige

A purely visual mix-up. dreckig ([ˈdʁɛkɪç]) and dreckige ([ˈdʁɛkɪɡə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “dreckig” sits inside “dreckige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dreckig is recorded at frequency rank #12,260, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʁɛkɪç]. dreckige is at rank #18,858, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʁɛkɪɡə].

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 31118, this pair ranks #1,734,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dreckig vs dreckige

Shared letters: cdegikr. Private to "dreckig": -. Private to "dreckige": -.

"dreckig" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "dreckige" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dreckigddreckig · derckig · drcekig · drecckig · drecikg · dreckgi · dreckigg · dreckkig
  • dreckigeddreckige · derckige · drcekige · drecckige · drecikge · dreckgie · dreckieg · dreckigge

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dreckig" for "dreckige" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʁɛkɪç] versus [ˈdʁɛkɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dreckig" vs "dreckige" - which ranks higher?
"dreckig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,260 in our German list, against #18,858 for "dreckige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dreckig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dreckige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,734,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dreckig" and "dreckige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dreckige vs dreckiges". 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 #1,734,443 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