Which to use
“Zweifel” is a noun and “zweifle” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,868
- “Zweifel” frequency rank
- #21,860
- “zweifle” frequency rank
- 23728
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Zweifel | zweifle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | inneres Schwanken; Unsicherheit in Bezug auf Vertrauen, Taten, Entscheidungen, Glauben oder Behauptungen beziehungsweise Vermutung von Tatsachen | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs zweifeln |
Where the eye mixes Zweifel and zweifle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Zweifel (CCVVCVC) and zweifle (CCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between Zweifel and zweifle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zweifel is [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩] while zweifle is [ˈt͡svaɪ̯flə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (el ↔ le) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Zweifel is recorded at frequency rank #1,868, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩]. zweifle is at rank #21,860, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡svaɪ̯flə].
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 23728, this pair ranks #1,857,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Zweifel vs zweifle
Shared letters: efilwz. Private to "Zweifel": -. Private to "zweifle": -.
"Zweifel" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "zweifle" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Zweifel" and "zweifle" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Zweifel" or "zweifle" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Zweifel" and "zweifle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Zweifel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zweifle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,857,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Zweifel" and "zweifle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zweifelte vs zweifle". 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 #1,857,382 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.