Teufelei
[tɔɪ̯fəˈlaɪ̯]
The verdict
“Teufelei” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - üble Aktion gegen jemanden
Corpus desk
Index DE-teufelei · Teufelei · German
Teufelei · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Teufelei |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [tɔɪ̯fəˈlaɪ̯] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „Teufelei“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
Teufelei is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed [tɔɪ̯fəˈlaɪ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "üble Aktion gegen jemanden".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Teufelei, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is Teufelei, spelled T-E-U-F-E-L-E-I.
Definition
- 1üble Aktion gegen jemanden
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Teufelei appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
„Und doch sitzt eine Teufelei dahinter.“
„Anscheinend steckte außer seiner sanften Liebe zu Büchern auch ein guter Schuss furchtloser Teufelei in ihm.“
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.