TeilvsteilstConfusable pair

Quick tell: Teil is a noun, teilst is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Teil” is a noun and “teilst” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#238
“Teil” frequency rank
#30,322
“teilst” frequency rank
30560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teil teilst
Definition ein Element, Stück oder Teilmenge eines Ganzen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs teilen

Where the eye mixes Teil and teilst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Teil
6 ch
teilst

Why the eye confuses Teil with teilst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Teil is [taɪ̯l] while teilst is [taɪ̯lst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Teil” sits inside “teilst”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teil is recorded at frequency rank #238, classified as anoun, pronounced [taɪ̯l]. teilst is at rank #30,322, tagged as averb, pronounced [taɪ̯lst].

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 30560, this pair ranks #1,745,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teil vs teilst

Shared letters: eilt. Private to "Teil": -. Private to "teilst": s.

"Teil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "teilst" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teiletil · teill · teli · tiel · tteil
  • teilstetilst · teillst · teilsst · teilstt · teilts · teislt · telist · tielst

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Teil" and "teilst" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Teil" is a noun and "teilst" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Teil" or "teilst"?
"Teil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #238 in our German list, against #30,322 for "teilst". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Teil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teilst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,745,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teil" and "teilst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teilst vs treibst". 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 #1,745,419 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