direktvsdirekterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#393
“direkt” frequency rank
#7,455
“direkter” frequency rank
7848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature direkt direkter
Definition in gerader Richtung, ohne Umwege, ohne Umschweife, ohne Verzögerung Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs direkt

Where the eye mixes direkt and direkter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. direkt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against direkter's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
direkt
8 ch
direkter

Why the eye confuses direkt with direkter

A purely visual mix-up. direkt ([diˈʁɛkt]) and direkter ([diˈʁɛktɐ]) 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) - “direkt” sits inside “direkter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

direkt is recorded at frequency rank #393, classified as anadj, pronounced [diˈʁɛkt]. direkter is at rank #7,455, tagged as anadj, pronounced [diˈʁɛktɐ].

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 7848, this pair ranks #1,986,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of direkt vs direkter

Shared letters: deikrt. Private to "direkt": -. Private to "direkter": -.

"direkt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "direkter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • direktddirekt · dierkt · direkkt · direktt · diretk · dirket · dirrekt · driekt
  • direkterddirekter · dierkter · direketr · direkkter · direkterr · direktre · direktter · diretker

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "direkt" for "direkter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([diˈʁɛkt] versus [diˈʁɛktɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "direkt" or "direkter"?
"direkt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #393 in our German list, against #7,455 for "direkter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "direkt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "direkter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,986,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "direkt" and "direkter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diet vs direkt". 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 #1,986,647 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