ekligvsekligeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,421
“eklig” frequency rank
#42,455
“eklige” frequency rank
53876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eklig eklige
Definition Ekel erregend; widerlich Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eklig

Where the eye mixes eklig and eklige

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

5 ch
eklig
6 ch
eklige

Visual trap between eklig and eklige

A purely visual mix-up. eklig ([ˈeːklɪç]) 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 extra letter(s) - “eklig” sits inside “eklige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eklig is recorded at frequency rank #11,421, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːklɪç]. 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 53876, this pair ranks #1,040,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eklig vs eklige

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

"eklig" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "eklige" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eklig ← ekilg · ekklig · eklgi · ekligg · ekllig · elkig · kelig
  • eklige ← ekilge · ekklige · eklgie · eklieg · ekligge · ekllige · elkige · kelige

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eklig" for "eklige" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːklɪç] versus [ˈeːklɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "eklig" or "eklige" show up more?
"eklig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,421 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.

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 "eklig" 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 #1,040,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eklig" 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 #1,040,926 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