gruseligvsgruseligeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,247
“gruselig” frequency rank
#32,071
“gruselige” frequency rank
43318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gruselig gruselige
Definition Grusel hervorrufend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gruselig

Where the eye mixes gruselig and gruselige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gruselig runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVC) against gruselige's 9 (CCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gruselig
9 ch
gruselige

Look-alike desk: gruselig vs gruselige

A purely visual mix-up. gruselig ([ˈɡʁuːzəlɪç]) and gruselige ([ˈɡʁuːzəlɪɡə]) 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) - “gruselig” sits inside “gruselige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gruselig is recorded at frequency rank #11,247, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʁuːzəlɪç]. gruselige is at rank #32,071, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʁuːzəlɪɡə].

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 43318, this pair ranks #1,421,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gruselig vs gruselige

Shared letters: egilrsu. Private to "gruselig": -. Private to "gruselige": -.

"gruselig" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "gruselige" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gruselig ← ggruselig · grruselig · grsuelig · grueslig · gruseilg · gruselgi · gruseligg · grusellig
  • gruselige ← ggruselige · grruselige · grsuelige · grueslige · gruseilge · gruselgie · gruselieg · gruseligge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gruselig" and "gruselige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡʁuːzəlɪç] versus [ˈɡʁuːzəlɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gruselig" or "gruselige"?
"gruselig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,247 in our German list, against #32,071 for "gruselige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gruselig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gruselige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,421,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gruselig" and "gruselige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grusel vs gruselig". 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 #1,421,806 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