Which to use
“eil” is a verb and “eilig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,151
- “eil” frequency rank
- #12,485
- “eilig” frequency rank
- 47636
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eil | eilig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eilen | in Eile, rasch |
Where the eye mixes eil and eilig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: eil vs eilig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eil is [aɪ̯l] while eilig is [ˈaɪ̯lɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “eil” sits inside “eilig”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eil is recorded at frequency rank #35,151, classified as averb, pronounced [aɪ̯l]. eilig is at rank #12,485, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯lɪç].
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 47636, this pair ranks #1,277,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eil vs eilig
Shared letters: eil. Private to "eil": -. Private to "eilig": g.
"eil" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "eilig" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- eilig ← eiilg · eilgi · eiligg · eillig · eliig · ielig
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "eil" for "eilig" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "eil" or "eilig" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "eil" and "eilig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "eil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eilig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,277,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eil" and "eilig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eil 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 #1,277,373 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.