ekelhaftvsekelhafteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,071
“ekelhaft” frequency rank
#34,611
“ekelhafte” frequency rank
44682
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ekelhaft ekelhafte
Definition Ekel hervorrufend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ekelhaft

Where the eye mixes ekelhaft and ekelhafte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. ekelhaft runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCC) against ekelhafte's 9 (VCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
ekelhaft
9 ch
ekelhafte

Why the eye confuses ekelhaft with ekelhafte

A purely visual mix-up. ekelhaft ([ˈeːkl̩haft]) and ekelhafte ([ˈeːkl̩haftə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “ekelhaft” sits inside “ekelhafte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ekelhaft is recorded at frequency rank #10,071, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːkl̩haft]. ekelhafte is at rank #34,611, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːkl̩haftə].

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 44682, this pair ranks #1,378,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ekelhaft vs ekelhafte

Shared letters: aefhklt. Private to "ekelhaft": -. Private to "ekelhafte": -.

"ekelhaft" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC  ·  "ekelhafte" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ekelhaft ← eeklhaft · ekehlaft · ekelahft · ekelhafft · ekelhaftt · ekelhatf · ekelhfat · ekelhhaft
  • ekelhafte ← eeklhafte · ekehlafte · ekelahfte · ekelhafet · ekelhaffte · ekelhaftte · ekelhatfe · ekelhfate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ekelhaft" for "ekelhafte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːkl̩haft] versus [ˈeːkl̩haftə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ekelhaft" or "ekelhafte"?
"ekelhaft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,071 in our German list, against #34,611 for "ekelhafte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ekelhaft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ekelhafte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,378,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ekelhaft" and "ekelhafte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ekelhafte vs ekelhaften". 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 #1,378,233 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