eiligvsekligeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,485
“eilig” frequency rank
#42,455
“eklige” frequency rank
54940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eilig eklige
Definition in Eile, rasch Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eklig

Where the eye mixes eilig and eklige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. eilig runs 5 letters (VVCVC) against eklige's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
eilig
6 ch
eklige

Visual trap between eilig and eklige

A purely visual mix-up. eilig ([ˈaɪ̯lɪç]) and eklige ([ˈeːklɪɡə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54940, 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]. eklige is at rank #42,455, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːklɪɡə].

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 54940, this pair ranks #998,949 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eilig vs eklige

Shared letters: egil. Private to "eilig": -. Private to "eklige": k.

"eilig" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "eklige" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eilig ← eiilg · eilgi · eiligg · eillig · eliig · ielig
  • eklige ← ekilge · ekklige · eklgie · eklieg · ekligge · ekllige · elkige · kelige

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eilig" and "eklige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯lɪç] versus [ˈeːklɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "eilig" vs "eklige" - which ranks higher?
"eilig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,485 in our German list, against #42,455 for "eklige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eilig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eklige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #998,949 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eilig" and "eklige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eisige vs eklige". 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 #998,949 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