TeufelvsteuresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Teufel is a noun, teures is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Teufel” is a noun and “teures” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,341
“Teufel” frequency rank
#19,415
“teures” frequency rank
22756
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teufel teures
Definition böses Geisterwesen Nominativ Neutrum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs teuer

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Teufel and teures apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Teufel
6 ch
teures

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Teufel is [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩] while teures is [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teufel is recorded at frequency rank #3,341, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩]. teures is at rank #19,415, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁəs].

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 22756, this pair ranks #1,870,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teufel vs teures

Shared letters: etu. Private to "Teufel": fl. Private to "teures": rs.

"Teufel" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "teures" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teufeletufel · tefuel · teuefl · teufell · teuffel · teufle · tteufel · tuefel
  • teuresetures · terues · teuers · teuress · teurres · teurse · tteures · tueres

Frequency comparison

Teufel#3,341
teures#19,415

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teufel" and "teures" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Teufel" is a noun and "teures" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Teufel" or "teures"?
"Teufel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,341 in our German list, against #19,415 for "teures". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Teufel vs teures

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Teufel”; for an adjective, it's “teures”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Teufel” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list