Which to use
“banal” and “banale” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,318
- “banal” frequency rank
- #43,741
- “banale” frequency rank
- 70059
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | banal | banale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ohne großen Anspruch | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs banal |
Where the eye mixes banal and banale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. banal runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against banale's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: banal vs banale
A purely visual mix-up. banal ([baˈnaːl]) and banale ([baˈnaːlə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “banal” sits inside “banale”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
banal is recorded at frequency rank #26,318, classified as anadj, pronounced [baˈnaːl]. banale is at rank #43,741, tagged as anadj, pronounced [baˈnaːlə].
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 70059, this pair ranks #457,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of banal vs banale
Shared letters: abln. Private to "banal": -. Private to "banale": e.
"banal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "banale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "banal" for "banale" ever safe?
Frequency check: "banal" vs "banale" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "banal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "banale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,736 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "banal" and "banale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banale vs banalen". 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 #457,736 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.