ekeligvsekligWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,498
“ekelig” frequency rank
#11,421
“eklig” frequency rank
51919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ekelig eklig
Definition Ekel erregend; widerlich Ekel erregend; widerlich

Where the eye mixes ekelig and eklig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
ekelig
5 ch
eklig

Look-alike desk: ekelig vs eklig

A purely visual mix-up. ekelig ([ˈeːkəlɪç]) and eklig ([ˈeːklɪç]) 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 51919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ekelig is recorded at frequency rank #40,498, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːkəlɪç]. eklig is at rank #11,421, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːklɪç].

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 51919, this pair ranks #1,116,960 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ekelig vs eklig

Shared letters: egikl. Private to "ekelig": -. Private to "eklig": -.

"ekelig" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "eklig" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ekeligeeklig · ekeilg · ekelgi · ekeligg · ekellig · ekkelig · ekleig · keelig
  • ekligekilg · ekklig · eklgi · ekligg · ekllig · elkig · kelig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ekelig" and "eklig" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːkəlɪç] versus [ˈeːklɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ekelig" or "eklig" show up more?
"eklig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,421 in our German list, against #40,498 for "ekelig". 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 "ekelig" and "eklig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ekelig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eklig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,116,960 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ekelig" and "eklig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ebeling vs ekelig". 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 #1,116,960 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