elegantevsElementeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#18,525
“elegante” frequency rank
#3,111
“Elemente” frequency rank
21636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elegante Elemente
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs elegant Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Element

Where the eye mixes elegante and Elemente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
elegante
8 ch
Elemente

Visual trap between elegante and Elemente

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: elegante is [eleˈɡantə] while Elemente is [eləˈmɛntə]. 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 21636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elegante is recorded at frequency rank #18,525, classified as anadj, pronounced [eleˈɡantə]. Elemente is at rank #3,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced [eləˈmɛntə].

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 21636, this pair ranks #1,883,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of elegante vs Elemente

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "elegante": ag. Private to "Elemente": m.

"elegante" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV  ·  "Elemente" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eleganteeelgante · eleagnte · eleganet · elegannte · elegantte · elegatne · eleggante · elegnate
  • Elementeeelmente · eleemnte · elemenet · elemennte · elementte · elemetne · elemmente · elemnete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "elegante" for "Elemente" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "elegante" is an adjective and "Elemente" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "elegante" or "Elemente"?
"Elemente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,111 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elegante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Elemente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,883,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elegante" and "Elemente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elegante vs eleganter". 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 #1,883,909 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