eiligvseinigWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,485
“eilig” frequency rank
#4,114
“einig” frequency rank
16599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eilig einig
Definition in Eile, rasch einer, derselben, der gleichen Meinung, übereinstimmend, einvernehmlich

Where the eye mixes eilig and einig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
eilig
5 ch
einig

Visual trap between eilig and einig

A purely visual mix-up. eilig ([ˈaɪ̯lɪç]) and einig ([ˈaɪ̯nɪç]) 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 a single letter - l in “eilig” becomes n in “einig”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eilig is recorded at frequency rank #12,485, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯lɪç]. einig is at rank #4,114, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɪç].

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 16599, this pair ranks #1,934,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eilig vs einig

Shared letters: egi. Private to "eilig": l. Private to "einig": n.

"eilig" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "einig" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eiligeiilg · eilgi · eiligg · eillig · eliig · ielig
  • einigeiing · eingi · einigg · einnig · eniig · ienig

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eilig" for "einig" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯lɪç] versus [ˈaɪ̯nɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "eilig" or "einig" show up more?
"einig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,114 in our German list, against #12,485 for "eilig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eilig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,934,513 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eilig" and "einig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "egli vs eilig". 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 #1,934,513 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