geilevsgeilenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,252
“geile” frequency rank
#8,210
“geilen” frequency rank
11462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geile geilen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geil Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs geil

Where the eye mixes geile and geilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. geile runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against geilen's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
geile
6 ch
geilen

Look-alike desk: geile vs geilen

A purely visual mix-up. geile ([ˈɡaɪ̯lə]) and geilen ([ˈɡaɪ̯lən]) 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) - “geile” sits inside “geilen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geile is recorded at frequency rank #3,252, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡaɪ̯lə]. geilen is at rank #8,210, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡaɪ̯lən].

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 11462, this pair ranks #1,969,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geile vs geilen

Shared letters: egil. Private to "geile": -. Private to "geilen": n.

"geile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "geilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geileegile · geiel · geille · gelie · ggeile · giele
  • geilenegilen · geieln · geilenn · geillen · geilne · gelien · ggeilen · gielen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geile" and "geilen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡaɪ̯lə] versus [ˈɡaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "geile" or "geilen" show up more?
"geile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,252 in our German list, against #8,210 for "geilen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geile" and "geilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geilen vs Gilden". 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 #1,969,755 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