AdernvsAdlerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Adern” and “Adler” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,480
“Adern” frequency rank
#4,853
“Adler” frequency rank
24333
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Adern Adler
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ader mehrere verschiedene größere Raubvögel, Greifvögel aus der Familie der Habichtartigen

Where the eye mixes Adern and Adler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Adern
5 ch
Adler

Visual trap between Adern and Adler

A purely visual mix-up. Adern ([ˈaːdɐn]) and Adler ([ˈaːdlɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Adern is recorded at frequency rank #19,480, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaːdɐn]. Adler is at rank #4,853, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaːdlɐ].

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 24333, this pair ranks #1,849,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Adern vs Adler

Shared letters: ader. Private to "Adern": n. Private to "Adler": l.

"Adern" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "Adler" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Adernaddern · adenr · adernn · aderrn · adren · aedrn · daern
  • Adleraddler · adelr · adlerr · adller · adlre · alder · daler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Adern" for "Adler" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaːdɐn] versus [ˈaːdlɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Adern" or "Adler"?
"Adler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,853 in our German list, against #19,480 for "Adern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Adern" and "Adler" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Adern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Adler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,849,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Adern" and "Adler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Adern vs Adlers". 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 #1,849,088 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list