teilsvstesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: teils is a adverb, tes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“teils” is an adverb and “tes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,945
“teils” frequency rank
#44,969
“tes” frequency rank
46914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teils tes
Definition nicht alles zusammen betreffend, sondern nur einen Teil Plural des Substantivs te

Where the eye mixes teils and tes

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

5 ch
teils
3 ch
tes

Look-alike desk: teils vs tes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: teils is [taɪ̯ls] while tes is [tɛs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teils is recorded at frequency rank #1,945, classified as anadv, pronounced [taɪ̯ls]. tes is at rank #44,969, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tɛs].

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 46914, this pair ranks #1,302,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of teils vs tes

Shared letters: est. Private to "teils": il. Private to "tes": -.

"teils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "tes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teilsetils · teills · teilss · teisl · telis · tiels · tteils

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "teils" for "tes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "teils" is an adverb and "tes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "teils" or "tes"?
"teils" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,945 in our German list, against #44,969 for "tes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,302,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teils" and "tes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tes 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 #1,302,629 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