EdevseilWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ede is a name, eil is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ede” is a name and “eil” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,118
“Ede” frequency rank
#35,151
“eil” frequency rank
78269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ede eil
Definition männlicher Vorname 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eilen

Where the eye mixes Ede and eil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Ede (VCV) and eil (VVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
Ede
3 ch
eil

Visual trap between Ede and eil

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ede is [ˈeːdə] while eil is [aɪ̯l]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ede is recorded at frequency rank #43,118, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈeːdə]. eil is at rank #35,151, tagged as averb, pronounced [aɪ̯l].

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 78269, this pair ranks #242,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Ede vs eil

Shared letters: e. Private to "Ede": d. Private to "eil": il.

"Ede" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "eil" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ede" and "eil" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ede" is a name and "eil" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Ede" or "eil" show up more?
"eil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,151 in our German list, against #43,118 for "Ede". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ede" and "eil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ede vs Erle". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #242,084 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