TeervsTeilConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#37,240
“Teer” frequency rank
#238
“Teil” frequency rank
37478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teer Teil
Definition braunschwarze, dicke, fette, klumpige, ölig-klebrige Flüssigkeit von scharfem Geruch, die durch trockenes Erhitzen organischer Stoffe (zum Beispiel Kohle) unter Luftabschluss entsteht ein Element, Stück oder Teilmenge eines Ganzen

Where the eye mixes Teer and Teil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Teer
4 ch
Teil

Look-alike desk: Teer vs Teil

A purely visual mix-up. Teer ([teːɐ̯]) and Teil ([taɪ̯l]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teer is recorded at frequency rank #37,240, classified as anoun, pronounced [teːɐ̯]. Teil is at rank #238, tagged as anoun, pronounced [taɪ̯l].

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 37478, this pair ranks #1,589,166 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teer vs Teil

Shared letters: et. Private to "Teer": r. Private to "Teil": il.

"Teer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Teil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teereter · teerr · tteer
  • Teiletil · teill · teli · tiel · tteil

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teer" and "Teil" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([teːɐ̯] versus [taɪ̯l]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Teer" or "Teil" show up more?
"Teil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #238 in our German list, against #37,240 for "Teer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Teer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Teil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,589,166 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teer" and "Teil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Teer vs trees". 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 #1,589,166 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