edlevsEheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: edle is a adjective, Ehe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“edle” is an adjective and “Ehe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,415
“edle” frequency rank
#1,071
“Ehe” frequency rank
12486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature edle Ehe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs edel institutionell anerkannte und beurkundete Verbindung zweier Menschen, die in der Regel durch eine Liebesbeziehung, gemeinsame Lebensführung und dauerhaftes Bestehen (sowie oft, aber nicht überall, auch durch den Ausschluss einer gleichzeitigen gleichartigen Verbindung mit einem Dritten) gekennzeichnet ist

Where the eye mixes edle and Ehe

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

4 ch
edle
3 ch
Ehe

Look-alike desk: edle vs Ehe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: edle is [ˈeːdlə] while Ehe is [ˈeːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

edle is recorded at frequency rank #11,415, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːdlə]. Ehe is at rank #1,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːə].

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 12486, this pair ranks #1,963,899 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of edle vs Ehe

Shared letters: e. Private to "edle": dl. Private to "Ehe": h.

"edle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "Ehe" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • edledele · eddle · edlle · elde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "edle" for "Ehe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "edle" is an adjective and "Ehe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "edle" or "Ehe"?
"Ehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,071 in our German list, against #11,415 for "edle". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "edle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ehe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,963,899 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "edle" and "Ehe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "edle 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 #1,963,899 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