Which to use
“clever” and “clevere” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,061
- “clever” frequency rank
- #26,809
- “clevere” frequency rank
- 36870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clever | clevere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schlau, gewitzt | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs clever |
Where the eye mixes clever and clevere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. clever runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against clevere's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between clever and clevere
A purely visual mix-up. clever ([ˈklɛvɐ]) and clevere ([ˈklɛvəʁə]) 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) - “clever” sits inside “clevere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clever is recorded at frequency rank #10,061, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklɛvɐ]. clevere is at rank #26,809, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklɛvəʁə].
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 36870, this pair ranks #1,604,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clever vs clevere
Shared letters: celrv. Private to "clever": -. Private to "clevere": -.
"clever" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "clevere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clever" and "clevere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "clever" or "clevere"?
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 "clever" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "clevere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,604,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clever" and "clevere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clevere vs cleveren". 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 #1,604,618 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.