edlesvseinesTell them apart

Quick tell: edles is a adjective, eines is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“edles” is an adjective and “eines” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,061
“edles” frequency rank
#118
“eines” frequency rank
38179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature edles eines
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs edel [1] unbestimmter Artikel des Maskulinums im Genitiv

Where the eye mixes edles and eines

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

5 ch
edles
5 ch
eines

Look-alike desk: edles vs eines

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: edles is [ˈeːdləs] while eines is [ˈaɪ̯nəs]. 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 determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

edles is recorded at frequency rank #38,061, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːdləs]. eines is at rank #118, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nəs].

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 38179, this pair ranks #1,570,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of edles vs eines

Shared letters: es. Private to "edles": dl. Private to "eines": in.

"edles" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "eines" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • edlesdeles · eddles · edels · edless · edlles · edlse · eldes
  • eineseiens · einess · einnes · einse · enies · ienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "edles" for "eines" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "edles" is an adjective and "eines" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "edles" vs "eines" - which ranks higher?
"eines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #118 in our German list, against #38,061 for "edles". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "edles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,570,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "edles" and "eines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "edles 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 #1,570,813 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