jähvsJobWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#39,457
“jäh” frequency rank
#718
“Job” frequency rank
40175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jäh Job
Definition unerwartet, abrupt und heftig sich entwickelnd Arbeitsplatz, Stellung (Anstellung) für eine (vorübergehende) einträgliche Beschäftigung zum Zweck des Gelderwerbs

Where the eye mixes jäh and Job

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. jäh and Job follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
jäh
3 ch
Job

Look-alike desk: jäh vs Job

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jäh is [jɛː] while Job is [d͡ʒɔp]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jäh is recorded at frequency rank #39,457, classified as anadj, pronounced [jɛː]. Job is at rank #718, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d͡ʒɔp].

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 40175, this pair ranks #1,515,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jäh vs Job

Shared letters: j. Private to "jäh": hä. Private to "Job": bo.

"jäh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Job" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "jäh" for "Job" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jäh" is an adjective and "Job" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "jäh" vs "Job" - which ranks higher?
"Job" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #718 in our German list, against #39,457 for "jäh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jäh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Job" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,515,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jäh" and "Job" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jäh vs jn". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,515,964 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