Which to use
“illegale” and “illegaler” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,308
- “illegale” frequency rank
- #17,944
- “illegaler” frequency rank
- 24252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illegale | illegaler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs illegal | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs illegal |
Where the eye mixes illegale and illegaler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. illegale runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against illegaler's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: illegale vs illegaler
A purely visual mix-up. illegale ([ˈɪleɡaːlə]) and illegaler ([ˈɪleɡaːlɐ]) 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) - “illegale” sits inside “illegaler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illegale is recorded at frequency rank #6,308, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪleɡaːlə]. illegaler is at rank #17,944, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪleɡaːlɐ].
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 24252, this pair ranks #1,850,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of illegale vs illegaler
Shared letters: aegil. Private to "illegale": -. Private to "illegaler": r.
"illegale" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "illegaler" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "illegale" and "illegaler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "illegale" or "illegaler"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "illegale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illegaler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,850,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "illegale" and "illegaler" 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 #1,850,286 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.