eiligvseinigeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: eilig is a adjective, einige is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eilig” is an adjective and “einige” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,485
“eilig” frequency rank
#265
“einige” frequency rank
12750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eilig einige
Definition in Eile, rasch mehrere

Where the eye mixes eilig and einige

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

5 ch
eilig
6 ch
einige

Look-alike desk: eilig vs einige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eilig is [ˈaɪ̯lɪç] while einige is [ˈaɪ̯nɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12750, 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]. einige is at rank #265, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɪɡə].

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 12750, this pair ranks #1,962,264 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eilig vs einige

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

"eilig" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "einige" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eiligeiilg · eilgi · eiligg · eillig · eliig · ielig
  • einigeeiinge · eingie · einieg · einigge · einnige · eniige · ienige

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eilig" and "einige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eilig" is an adjective and "einige" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "eilig" vs "einige" - which ranks higher?
"einige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #265 in our German list, against #12,485 for "eilig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "eilig" and "einige" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eilig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,962,264 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eilig" and "einige" 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 #1,962,264 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