EilevsEinsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,267
“Eile” frequency rank
#923
“Eins” frequency rank
13190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eile Eins
Definition Verhalten oder Situation, etwas dringend erledigen zu müssen die natürliche Zahl zwischen Null und Zwei

Where the eye mixes Eile and Eins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Eile (VVCV) and Eins (VVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Eile
4 ch
Eins

Look-alike desk: Eile vs Eins

A purely visual mix-up. Eile ([ˈaɪ̯lə]) and Eins ([aɪ̯ns]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eile is recorded at frequency rank #12,267, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯lə]. Eins is at rank #923, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aɪ̯ns].

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 13190, this pair ranks #1,959,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Eile vs Eins

Shared letters: ei. Private to "Eile": l. Private to "Eins": ns.

"Eile" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "Eins" · 4 letters · shape VVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eile ← eiel · eille · elie · iele
  • Eins ← einns · einss · eisn · enis · iens

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Eile" for "Eins" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯lə] versus [aɪ̯ns]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Eile" vs "Eins" - which ranks higher?
"Eins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #923 in our German list, against #12,267 for "Eile". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Eile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eile" and "Eins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eile 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 #1,959,548 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