Which to use
“Ziele” is a noun and “zielte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,867
- “Ziele” frequency rank
- #26,709
- “zielte” frequency rank
- 28576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ziele | zielte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Ziel | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zielen |
Where the eye mixes Ziele and zielte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Ziele runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against zielte's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Ziele with zielte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ziele is [ˈt͡siːlə] 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 28576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ziele is recorded at frequency rank #1,867, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡siːlə]. 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 28576, this pair ranks #1,782,324 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Ziele vs zielte
Shared letters: eilz. Private to "Ziele": -. Private to "zielte": t.
"Ziele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "zielte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ziele" for "zielte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Ziele" vs "zielte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Ziele" and "zielte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ziele" 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 #1,782,324 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ziele" 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 #1,782,324 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.