Which to use
“böse” and “böser” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,543
- “böse” frequency rank
- #13,112
- “böser” frequency rank
- 14655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | böse | böser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | moralisch falsch, nicht gut; bösartig | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bös |
Where the eye mixes böse and böser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. böse ([ˈbøːzə]) and böser ([ˈbøːzɐ]) 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) - “böse” sits inside “böser”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
böse is recorded at frequency rank #1,543, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbøːzə]. böser is at rank #13,112, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbøːzɐ].
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 14655, this pair ranks #1,949,683 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of böse vs böser
Shared letters: besö. Private to "böse": -. Private to "böser": r.
"böse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "böser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC