mobilevsmobilesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,606
“mobile” frequency rank
#20,345
“mobiles” frequency rank
23951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mobile mobiles
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mobil Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mobil

Where the eye mixes mobile and mobiles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
mobile
7 ch
mobiles

Visual trap between mobile and mobiles

A purely visual mix-up. mobile ([moˈbiːlə]) and mobiles ([moˈbiːləs]) 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) - “mobile” sits inside “mobiles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mobile is recorded at frequency rank #3,606, classified as anadj, pronounced [moˈbiːlə]. mobiles is at rank #20,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced [moˈbiːləs].

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 23951, this pair ranks #1,854,345 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mobile vs mobiles

Shared letters: beilmo. Private to "mobile": -. Private to "mobiles": s.

"mobile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "mobiles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mobilemboile · mmobile · mobbile · mobiel · mobille · moblie · moible · ombile
  • mobilesmboiles · mmobiles · mobbiles · mobiels · mobiless · mobilles · mobilse · moblies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mobile" and "mobiles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([moˈbiːlə] versus [moˈbiːləs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mobile" or "mobiles" show up more?
"mobile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,606 in our German list, against #20,345 for "mobiles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mobile" and "mobiles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mobile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mobiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,854,345 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mobile" and "mobiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mobiles vs Movies". 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 #1,854,345 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