JadevsjähWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Jade is a noun, jäh is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Jade” is a noun and “jäh” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,265
“Jade” frequency rank
#39,457
“jäh” frequency rank
58722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Jade jäh
Definition ein smaragdgrünes, grünlichweißes, hellgrünes bis grünes, sehr festes Mineral ( drei Minerale, Jadeit, Nephrit und Chloromelanit), Halbedelstein, Edelstein, Schmuckstein, Heilstein, das als Schmuck und im Kunstgewerbe verwendet wird unerwartet, abrupt und heftig sich entwickelnd

Where the eye mixes Jade and jäh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Jade runs 4 letters (CVCV) against jäh's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Jade
3 ch
jäh

Visual trap between Jade and jäh

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Jade is [ˈjaːdə] while jäh is [jɛː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Jade is recorded at frequency rank #19,265, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈjaːdə]. jäh is at rank #39,457, tagged as anadj, pronounced [jɛː].

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 58722, this pair ranks #851,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Jade vs jäh

Shared letters: j. Private to "Jade": ade. Private to "jäh": hä.

"Jade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "jäh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Jade ← ajde · jadde · jaed · jdae · jjade

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Jade" and "jäh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Jade" is a noun and "jäh" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Jade" or "jäh" show up more?
"Jade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,265 in our German list, against #39,457 for "jäh". 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 "Jade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jäh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #851,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Jade" and "jäh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jäh vs jn". 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 #851,790 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