cleverevscleverenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,809
“clevere” frequency rank
#48,044
“cleveren” frequency rank
74853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature clevere cleveren
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs clever Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs clever

Where the eye mixes clevere and cleveren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. clevere runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against cleveren's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
clevere
8 ch
cleveren

Visual trap between clevere and cleveren

A purely visual mix-up. clevere ([ˈklɛvəʁə]) and cleveren ([ˈklɛvəʁən]) 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) - “clevere” sits inside “cleveren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

clevere is recorded at frequency rank #26,809, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklɛvəʁə]. cleveren is at rank #48,044, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklɛvəʁən].

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 74853, this pair ranks #322,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of clevere vs cleveren

Shared letters: celrv. Private to "clevere": -. Private to "cleveren": n.

"clevere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "cleveren" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • clevere ← cclevere · celvere · cleevre · cleveer · cleverre · clevree · clevvere · cllevere
  • cleveren ← ccleveren · celveren · cleevren · cleveern · cleverenn · cleverne · cleverren · clevreen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "clevere" and "cleveren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklɛvəʁə] versus [ˈklɛvəʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "clevere" or "cleveren"?
"clevere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,809 in our German list, against #48,044 for "cleveren". 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 "clevere" and "cleveren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "clevere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cleveren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #322,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "clevere" and "cleveren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cleveren vs cleverer". 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 #322,769 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