TeufelsvsteuresTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#16,847
“Teufels” frequency rank
#19,415
“teures” frequency rank
36262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teufels teures
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Teufel Nominativ Neutrum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs teuer

Where the eye mixes Teufels and teures

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Teufels runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against teures's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Teufels
6 ch
teures

Visual trap between Teufels and teures

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Teufels is [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩s] while teures is [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Teufels is recorded at frequency rank #16,847, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩s]. 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 36262, this pair ranks #1,620,009 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teufels vs teures

Shared letters: estu. Private to "Teufels": fl. Private to "teures": r.

"Teufels" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "teures" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teufels ← etufels · tefuels · teuefls · teufells · teufelss · teufesl · teuffels · teufles
  • teures ← etures · terues · teuers · teuress · teurres · teurse · tteures · tueres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teufels" and "teures" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Teufels" is a noun and "teures" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Teufels" or "teures"?
"Teufels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,847 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Teufels" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,620,009 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teufels" and "teures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teures vs Turmes". 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 #1,620,009 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