eisigevsEisteeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: eisige is a adjective, Eistee is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eisige” is an adjective and “Eistee” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,134
“eisige” frequency rank
#33,552
“Eistee” frequency rank
76686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eisige Eistee
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eisig Getränk aus abgekühltem Tee

Where the eye mixes eisige and Eistee

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

6 ch
eisige
6 ch
Eistee

Why the eye confuses eisige with Eistee

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eisige is [ˈaɪ̯zɪɡə] while Eistee is [ˈaɪ̯sˌteː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eisige is recorded at frequency rank #43,134, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯zɪɡə]. Eistee is at rank #33,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯sˌteː].

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 76686, this pair ranks #278,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of eisige vs Eistee

Shared letters: eis. Private to "eisige": g. Private to "Eistee": t.

"eisige" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV  ·  "Eistee" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eisigeeiisge · eisgie · eisieg · eisigge · eissige · esiige · iesige
  • Eisteeeisete · eisstee · eiste · eisttee · eitsee · esitee · iestee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eisige" for "Eistee" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eisige" is an adjective and "Eistee" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "eisige" vs "Eistee" - which ranks higher?
"Eistee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,552 in our German list, against #43,134 for "eisige". 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 "eisige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eistee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eisige" and "Eistee" 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 #278,067 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