TeilvsteintWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#238
“Teil” frequency rank
#31,298
“teint” frequency rank
31536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teil teint
Definition ein Element, Stück oder Teilmenge eines Ganzen Gesichtsfarbe, Teint

Where the eye mixes Teil and teint

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Teil
5 ch
teint

Why the eye confuses Teil with teint

A purely visual mix-up. Teil ([taɪ̯l]) and teint ([tɛ̃]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teil is recorded at frequency rank #238, classified as anoun, pronounced [taɪ̯l]. teint is at rank #31,298, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tɛ̃].

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 31536, this pair ranks #1,726,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teil vs teint

Shared letters: eit. Private to "Teil": l. Private to "teint": n.

"Teil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "teint" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teiletil · teill · teli · tiel · tteil
  • teintetint · teinnt · teintt · teitn · tenit · tient · tteint

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teil" and "teint" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([taɪ̯l] versus [tɛ̃]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Teil" vs "teint" - which ranks higher?
"Teil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #238 in our German list, against #31,298 for "teint". 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 "Teil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,726,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teil" and "teint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teint vs tine". 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 #1,726,112 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