Which to use
“brutal” and “brutaler” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,022
- “brutal” frequency rank
- #22,661
- “brutaler” frequency rank
- 29683
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brutal | brutaler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dazu neigen, rücksichtslos, übermäßig, unangebracht und oft unbeherrscht gewalttätig, verletzend oder quälerisch zu sein, meist ohne Reue oder Skrupel. | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs brutal |
Where the eye mixes brutal and brutaler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. brutal runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against brutaler's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses brutal with brutaler
A purely visual mix-up. brutal ([bʁuˈtaːl]) and brutaler ([bʁuˈtaːlɐ]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “brutal” sits inside “brutaler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brutal is recorded at frequency rank #7,022, classified as anadj, pronounced [bʁuˈtaːl]. brutaler is at rank #22,661, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bʁuˈtaːlɐ].
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 29683, this pair ranks #1,762,225 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of brutal vs brutaler
Shared letters: ablrtu. Private to "brutal": -. Private to "brutaler": e.
"brutal" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "brutaler" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "brutal" and "brutaler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "brutal" vs "brutaler" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "brutal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brutaler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,762,225 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brutal" and "brutaler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brutalen vs brutaler". 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 #1,762,225 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.