Which to use
“üble” and “ugly” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,070
- “üble” frequency rank
- #49,317
- “ugly” frequency rank
- 65387
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | üble | ugly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs übel | unangenehm für das Auge; nicht ästhetisch ansprechend |
Where the eye mixes üble and ugly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. üble and ugly follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses üble with ugly
A purely visual mix-up. üble ([ˈyːblə]) and ugly ([ʌɡli]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
üble is recorded at frequency rank #16,070, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈyːblə]. ugly is at rank #49,317, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʌɡli].
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 65387, this pair ranks #608,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of üble vs ugly
Shared letters: l. Private to "üble": beü. Private to "ugly": guy.
"üble" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ugly" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ugly ← guly · uggly · uglly · uglyy · ugyl · ulgy
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "üble" and "ugly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "üble" or "ugly"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "üble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ugly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #608,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "üble" and "ugly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ugly vs ulli". 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 #608,695 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.