geilvsgeilesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,729
“geil” frequency rank
#11,653
“geiles” frequency rank
13382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geil geiles
Definition auf sexuelle Weise erregt, sexuell fordernd, jemanden sexuell attraktiv findend Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs geil

Where the eye mixes geil and geiles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
geil
6 ch
geiles

Visual trap between geil and geiles

A purely visual mix-up. geil ([ɡaɪ̯l]) and geiles ([ˈɡaɪ̯ləs]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “geil” sits inside “geiles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geil is recorded at frequency rank #1,729, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡaɪ̯l]. geiles is at rank #11,653, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡaɪ̯ləs].

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 13382, this pair ranks #1,958,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geil vs geiles

Shared letters: egil. Private to "geil": -. Private to "geiles": s.

"geil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "geiles" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geilegil · geill · geli · ggeil · giel
  • geilesegiles · geiels · geiless · geilles · geilse · gelies · ggeiles · gieles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "geil" and "geiles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡaɪ̯l] versus [ˈɡaɪ̯ləs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "geil" or "geiles" show up more?
"geil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,729 in our German list, against #11,653 for "geiles". 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 "geil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,360 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geil" and "geiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geiles vs gries". 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 #1,958,360 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