einstigevseinzigeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,864
“einstige” frequency rank
#564
“einzige” frequency rank
19428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature einstige einzige
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs einstig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs einzig

Where the eye mixes einstige and einzige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. einstige runs 8 letters (VVCCCVCV) against einzige's 7 (VVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
einstige
7 ch
einzige

Visual trap between einstige and einzige

A purely visual mix-up. einstige ([ˈaɪ̯nstɪɡə]) and einzige ([ˈaɪ̯nt͡sɪɡə]) 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 19428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

einstige is recorded at frequency rank #18,864, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nstɪɡə]. einzige is at rank #564, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nt͡sɪɡə].

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 19428, this pair ranks #1,908,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of einstige vs einzige

Shared letters: egin. Private to "einstige": st. Private to "einzige": z.

"einstige" · 8 letters · shape VVCCCVCV  ·  "einzige" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • einstige ← einnstige · einsitge · einsstige · einstgie · einstigge · einsttige · eintsige · eisntige
  • einzige ← einizge · einnzige · einzgie · einzieg · einzigge · einzzige · eiznige · enizige

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "einstige" for "einzige" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯nstɪɡə] versus [ˈaɪ̯nt͡sɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "einstige" or "einzige" show up more?
"einzige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #564 in our German list, against #18,864 for "einstige". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "einstige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einzige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,908,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "einstige" and "einzige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "einstige vs eisige". 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 #1,908,428 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