diversvsdiverseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,590
“divers” frequency rank
#3,432
“diverse” frequency rank
38022
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divers diverse
Definition mehrere, unterschiedliche, zur Auswahl stehende Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs divers

Where the eye mixes divers and diverse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
divers
7 ch
diverse

Look-alike desk: divers vs diverse

A purely visual mix-up. divers ([diˈvɛʁs]) and diverse ([diˈvɛʁzə]) 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) - “divers” sits inside “diverse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

divers is recorded at frequency rank #34,590, classified as anadj, pronounced [diˈvɛʁs]. diverse is at rank #3,432, tagged as anadj, pronounced [diˈvɛʁzə].

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 38022, this pair ranks #1,574,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of divers vs diverse

Shared letters: deirsv. Private to "divers": -. Private to "diverse": -.

"divers" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "diverse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diversddivers · dievrs · diverrs · diverss · divesr · divres · divvers · dviers
  • diverseddiverse · dievrse · diveres · diverrse · diversse · divesre · divrese · divverse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "divers" for "diverse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([diˈvɛʁs] versus [diˈvɛʁzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "divers" or "diverse" show up more?
"diverse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,432 in our German list, against #34,590 for "divers". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "divers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diverse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,574,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "divers" and "diverse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "divers vs Dover". 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 #1,574,908 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