eglivselfWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#45,875
“egli” frequency rank
#2,588
“elf” frequency rank
48463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature egli elf
Definition er die Kardinalzahl zwischen zehn und zwölf

Where the eye mixes egli and elf

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

4 ch
egli
3 ch
elf

Look-alike desk: egli vs elf

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: egli is [ˈeʎʎi] while elf is [ɛlf]. 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 (pronoun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

egli is recorded at frequency rank #45,875, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈeʎʎi]. elf is at rank #2,588, tagged as anum, pronounced [ɛlf].

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 48463, this pair ranks #1,247,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of egli vs elf

Shared letters: el. Private to "egli": gi. Private to "elf": f.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eglieggli · eglli · elgi

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "egli" and "elf" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "egli" is a pronoun and "elf" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "egli" or "elf"?
"elf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,588 in our German list, against #45,875 for "egli". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "egli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,247,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "egli" and "elf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "egli 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 #1,247,687 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