editvseilWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,546
“edit” frequency rank
#35,151
“eil” frequency rank
49697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature edit eil
Definition ein Buch, eine Zeitung oder einen Film zusammenstellen oder vor der Veröffentlichung aufbereiten 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eilen

Where the eye mixes edit and eil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
edit
3 ch
eil

Visual trap between edit and eil

A purely visual mix-up. edit ([ˈɛdɪt]) and eil ([aɪ̯l]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

edit is recorded at frequency rank #14,546, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɛdɪt]. 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 49697, this pair ranks #1,201,692 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of edit vs eil

Shared letters: ei. Private to "edit": dt. Private to "eil": l.

"edit" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "eil" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • editdeit · eddit · editt · edti · eidt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "edit" and "eil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛdɪt] versus [aɪ̯l]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "edit" or "eil"?
"edit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,546 in our German list, against #35,151 for "eil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "edit" and "eil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "edit" 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 #1,201,692 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "edit" and "eil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eil vs Erle". 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 #1,201,692 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