üble vs Uke, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#16,070
“üble” frequency rank: #44,987
“Uke” frequency rank: 61057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	üble	Uke
Definition	Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs übel	im Judo die Person, die geworfen wird beziehungsweise an der die Technik ausgeführt wird

Letter map: üble vs Uke

Shared letters muted; letters that set üble and Uke apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. üble runs 4 letters (VCCV) against Uke's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch

üble

3 ch

Uke

Grammar separator: üble vs Uke

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: üble is anadjective and Ukeanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61057, 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]. Uke is at rank #44,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 61057, this pair ranks #763,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of üble vs Uke

Shared letters: e. Private to "üble": blü. Private to "Uke": ku.

"üble" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "Uke" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "üble" for "Uke" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "üble" is an adjective and "Uke" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "üble" or "Uke"?

"üble" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,070 in our German list, against #44,987 for "Uke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "üble" vs "Uke" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "üble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Uke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #763,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"üble" and "Uke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Uke". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #763,878 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.