eggvsegliWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: egg is a verb, egli is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“egg” is a verb and “egli” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,614
“egg” frequency rank
#45,875
“egli” frequency rank
74489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature egg egli
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eggen er

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set egg and egli apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
egg
4 ch
egli

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: egg is [ɛk] while egli is [ˈeʎʎi]. 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 (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

egg is recorded at frequency rank #28,614, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛk]. egli is at rank #45,875, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈeʎʎi].

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 74489, this pair ranks #332,141 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of egg vs egli

Shared letters: eg. Private to "egg": -. Private to "egli": il.

"egg" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "egli" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eglieggli · eglli · elgi

Frequency comparison

egg#28,614
egli#45,875

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "egg" and "egli" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "egg" is a verb and "egli" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "egg" or "egli"?
"egg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,614 in our German list, against #45,875 for "egli". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering egg vs egli

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “egg”; for a pronoun, it's “egli”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “egg” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list