edlervsEiferWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#16,682
“edler” frequency rank
#17,269
“Eifer” frequency rank
33951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature edler Eifer
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs edel ernsthaftes Bemühen, Verfolgen eines Ziels

Where the eye mixes edler and Eifer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
edler
5 ch
Eifer

Why the eye confuses edler with Eifer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: edler is [ˈeːdlɐ] while Eifer is [ˈaɪ̯fɐ]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

edler is recorded at frequency rank #16,682, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːdlɐ]. Eifer is at rank #17,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯fɐ].

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 33951, this pair ranks #1,674,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of edler vs Eifer

Shared letters: er. Private to "edler": dl. Private to "Eifer": fi.

"edler" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Eifer" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • edlerdeler · eddler · edelr · edlerr · edller · edlre
  • Eifereiefr · eiferr · eiffer · eifre · iefer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "edler" for "Eifer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "edler" is an adjective and "Eifer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "edler" or "Eifer" show up more?
"edler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,682 in our German list, against #17,269 for "Eifer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "edler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eifer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,674,424 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "edler" and "Eifer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "edler 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 #1,674,424 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