Which to use
“peinliche” and “peinliches” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,673
- “peinliche” frequency rank
- #49,947
- “peinliches” frequency rank
- 67620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peinliche | peinliches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs peinlich | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs peinlich |
Where the eye mixes peinliche and peinliches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. peinliche runs 9 letters (CVVCCVCCV) against peinliches's 10 (CVVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between peinliche and peinliches
A purely visual mix-up. peinliche ([ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçə]) and peinliches ([ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçəs]) 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) - “peinliche” sits inside “peinliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peinliche is recorded at frequency rank #17,673, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçə]. peinliches is at rank #49,947, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçəs].
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 67620, this pair ranks #534,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of peinliche vs peinliches
Shared letters: cehilnp. Private to "peinliche": -. Private to "peinliches": s.
"peinliche" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV · "peinliches" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- peinliche ← epinliche · peilniche · peinilche · peinlcihe · peinlicche · peinliceh · peinlichhe · peinlihce
- peinliches ← epinliches · peilniches · peinilches · peinlcihes · peinlicches · peinlicehs · peinlichess · peinlichhes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peinliche" for "peinliches" ever safe?
Frequency check: "peinliche" vs "peinliches" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "peinliche" and "peinliches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peinliche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "peinliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #534,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peinliche" and "peinliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peinlicher vs peinliches". 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 #534,209 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.