etlichevsetlicherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,879
“etliche” frequency rank
#43,158
“etlicher” frequency rank
48037
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature etliche etlicher
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum des Indefinitpronomens etlich Nominativ Singular Maskulinum des Indefinitpronomens etlich

Where the eye mixes etliche and etlicher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. etliche runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against etlicher's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
etliche
8 ch
etlicher

Look-alike desk: etliche vs etlicher

A purely visual mix-up. etliche ([ˈɛtlɪçə]) and etlicher ([ˈɛtlɪçɐ]) 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) - “etliche” sits inside “etlicher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

etliche is recorded at frequency rank #4,879, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈɛtlɪçə]. etlicher is at rank #43,158, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈɛtlɪçɐ].

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 48037, this pair ranks #1,263,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of etliche vs etlicher

Shared letters: cehilt. Private to "etliche": -. Private to "etlicher": r.

"etliche" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "etlicher" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • etliche ← eltiche · etilche · etlcihe · etlicche · etliceh · etlichhe · etlihce · etlliche
  • etlicher ← elticher · etilcher · etlciher · etliccher · etlicehr · etlicherr · etlichher · etlichre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "etliche" and "etlicher" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛtlɪçə] versus [ˈɛtlɪçɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "etliche" or "etlicher"?
"etliche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,879 in our German list, against #43,158 for "etlicher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "etliche" and "etlicher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "etliche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "etlicher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,263,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "etliche" and "etlicher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ethischer vs etlicher". 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 #1,263,127 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