ElefantvseleganteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Elefant is a noun, elegante is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#16,399
“Elefant” frequency rank
#18,525
“elegante” frequency rank
34924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Elefant elegante
Definition großes an Land lebendes Säugetier, mithin ein grauer oder bräunlicher Dickhäuter mit auffällig großen Stoßzähnen und Ohren aus der Familie der Rüsseltiere Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs elegant

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Elefant and elegante apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Elefant
8 ch
elegante

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Elefant is [eleˈfant] while elegante is [eleˈɡantə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Elefant is recorded at frequency rank #16,399, classified as anoun, pronounced [eleˈfant]. elegante is at rank #18,525, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eleˈɡantə].

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 34924, this pair ranks #1,652,134 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Elefant vs elegante

Shared letters: aelnt. Private to "Elefant": f. Private to "elegante": g.

"Elefant" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC  ·  "elegante" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Elefanteelfant · eleafnt · elefannt · elefantt · elefatn · eleffant · elefnat · elfeant
  • eleganteeelgante · eleagnte · eleganet · elegannte · elegantte · elegatne · eleggante · elegnate

Frequency comparison

Elefant#16,399
elegante#18,525

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Elefant" and "elegante" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Elefant" is a noun and "elegante" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Elefant" or "elegante"?
"Elefant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,399 in our German list, against #18,525 for "elegante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Elefant vs elegante

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Elefant”; for an adjective, it's “elegante”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Elefant” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list