Which to use
“illegal” and “illegales” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,496
- “illegal” frequency rank
- #27,777
- “illegales” frequency rank
- 33273
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illegal | illegales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gegen ein Gesetz verstoßend, ohne behördliche Genehmigung, ungesetzlich, gesetzwidrig | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs illegal |
Where the eye mixes illegal and illegales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. illegal runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against illegales's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between illegal and illegales
A purely visual mix-up. illegal ([ˈɪleɡaːl]) and illegales ([ˈɪleɡaːləs]) 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) - “illegal” sits inside “illegales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illegal is recorded at frequency rank #5,496, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪleɡaːl]. illegales is at rank #27,777, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪleɡaːləs].
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 33273, this pair ranks #1,689,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of illegal vs illegales
Shared letters: aegil. Private to "illegal": -. Private to "illegales": s.
"illegal" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "illegales" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "illegal" for "illegales" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "illegal" or "illegales" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "illegal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illegales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,689,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "illegal" and "illegales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "illegaler vs illegales". 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 #1,689,575 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.