Which to use
“Zelle” is a noun and “zielte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,448
- “Zelle” frequency rank
- #26,709
- “zielte” frequency rank
- 32157
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Zelle | zielte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | kleinste lebende Einheit eines Lebewesens | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zielen |
Where the eye mixes Zelle and zielte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Zelle runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against zielte's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Zelle and zielte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zelle is [ˈt͡sɛlə] while zielte is [ˈt͡siːltə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Zelle is recorded at frequency rank #5,448, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡sɛlə]. zielte is at rank #26,709, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡siːltə].
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 32157, this pair ranks #1,713,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Zelle vs zielte
Shared letters: elz. Private to "Zelle": -. Private to "zielte": it.
"Zelle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "zielte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Zelle" for "zielte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Zelle" or "zielte" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Zelle" and "zielte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Zelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zielte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,713,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Zelle" and "zielte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ziels vs zielte". 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 #1,713,517 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.