Which to use
“Esel” and “eyes” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,358
- “Esel” frequency rank
- #17,880
- “eyes” frequency rank
- 26238
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Esel | eyes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zur Gattung der Pferde gehörendes (männliches) Huftier, das ein (je nach Art / Unterart) graues bis braunes, fahlgelbes bis ockerfarbenes oder rötliches bis rotbraunes Fell mit dunklem Aalstrich, eine kurze, aufrecht stehende Nackenmähne, lange Ohren und einen Quastenschwanz besitzt und dessen domestizierte Vertreter als Nutz-, Last- und Reittier dienen (Asinus) | Plural des Substantivs eye |
Where the eye mixes Esel and eyes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Esel with eyes
A purely visual mix-up. Esel ([ˈeːzl̩]) and eyes ([aɪz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Esel is recorded at frequency rank #8,358, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːzl̩]. eyes is at rank #17,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aɪz].
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 26238, this pair ranks #1,821,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Esel vs eyes
Shared letters: es. Private to "Esel": l. Private to "eyes": y.
"Esel" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "eyes" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Esel" for "eyes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Esel" or "eyes"?
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 "Esel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eyes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,821,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Esel" and "eyes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Efeu vs eyes". 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 #1,821,133 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.