EbervsEkelWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,820
“Eber” frequency rank
#17,563
“Ekel” frequency rank
61383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eber Ekel
Definition männliches Schwein starker körperlicher Abscheu

Where the eye mixes Eber and Ekel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Eber and Ekel follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Eber
4 ch
Ekel

Visual trap between Eber and Ekel

A purely visual mix-up. Eber ([ˈeːbɐ]) and Ekel ([ˈeːkl̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eber is recorded at frequency rank #43,820, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːbɐ]. Ekel is at rank #17,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːkl̩].

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 61383, this pair ranks #751,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Eber vs Ekel

Shared letters: e. Private to "Eber": br. Private to "Ekel": kl.

"Eber" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Ekel" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eber ← ebber · eberr · eebr
  • Ekel ← eekl · ekell · ekkel · keel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Eber" for "Ekel" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːbɐ] versus [ˈeːkl̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Eber" or "Ekel" show up more?
"Ekel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,563 in our German list, against #43,820 for "Eber". 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 "Eber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ekel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #751,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eber" and "Ekel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eber vs Efeu". 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 #751,918 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