ehrlichvsehrlicheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ehrlich” and “ehrliche” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,072
“ehrlich” frequency rank
#9,355
“ehrliche” frequency rank
10427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ehrlich ehrliche
Definition der Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit entsprechend, nicht gelogen oder vorgetäuscht; wahr Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ehrlich

Where the eye mixes ehrlich and ehrliche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ehrlich
8 ch
ehrliche

Why the eye confuses ehrlich with ehrliche

A purely visual mix-up. ehrlich ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪç]) and ehrliche ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪçə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ehrlich” sits inside “ehrliche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ehrlich is recorded at frequency rank #1,072, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪç]. ehrliche is at rank #9,355, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçə].

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 10427, this pair ranks #1,975,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ehrlich vs ehrliche

Shared letters: cehilr. Private to "ehrlich": -. Private to "ehrliche": -.

"ehrlich" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC  ·  "ehrliche" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ehrlichehhrlich · ehlrich · ehrilch · ehrlcih · ehrlicch · ehrlichh · ehrlihc · ehrllich
  • ehrlicheehhrliche · ehlriche · ehrilche · ehrlcihe · ehrlicche · ehrliceh · ehrlichhe · ehrlihce

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ehrlich" for "ehrliche" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪç] versus [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ehrlich" or "ehrliche"?
"ehrlich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,072 in our German list, against #9,355 for "ehrliche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrliche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,975,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ehrlich" and "ehrliche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ehrliche vs endliche". 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 #1,975,189 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