EichevseilteTell them apart

Quick tell: Eiche is a noun, eilte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Eiche” is a noun and “eilte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,034
“Eiche” frequency rank
#27,258
“eilte” frequency rank
38292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eiche eilte
Definition Laubbaum der Gattung Quercus 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs eilen

Where the eye mixes Eiche and eilte

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

5 ch
Eiche
5 ch
eilte

Look-alike desk: Eiche vs eilte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eiche is [ˈaɪ̯çə] while eilte is [ˈaɪ̯ltə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eiche is recorded at frequency rank #11,034, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯çə]. eilte is at rank #27,258, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ltə].

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 38292, this pair ranks #1,567,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Eiche vs eilte

Shared letters: ei. Private to "Eiche": ch. Private to "eilte": lt.

"Eiche" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "eilte" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eicheecihe · eicche · eiceh · eichhe · eihce · ieche
  • eilteeilet · eillte · eiltte · ielte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Eiche" and "eilte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Eiche" is a noun and "eilte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Eiche" vs "eilte" - which ranks higher?
"Eiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,034 in our German list, against #27,258 for "eilte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Eiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eilte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,567,714 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eiche" and "eilte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eilte 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 #1,567,714 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