durchschnittlichevsdurchschnittlicherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,974
“durchschnittliche” frequency rank
#31,008
“durchschnittlicher” frequency rank
35982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durchschnittliche durchschnittlicher
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs durchschnittlich Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs durchschnittlich

Where the eye mixes durchschnittliche and durchschnittlicher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 17 letters in sequence. durchschnittliche runs 17 letters (CVCCCCCCCVCCCVCCV) against durchschnittlicher's 18 (CVCCCCCCCVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

17 ch
durchschnittliche
18 ch
durchschnittlicher

Visual trap between durchschnittliche and durchschnittlicher

A purely visual mix-up. durchschnittliche ([ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçə]) and durchschnittlicher ([ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçɐ]) 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) - “durchschnittliche” sits inside “durchschnittlicher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durchschnittliche is recorded at frequency rank #4,974, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçə]. durchschnittlicher is at rank #31,008, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçɐ].

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 35982, this pair ranks #1,626,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of durchschnittliche vs durchschnittlicher

Shared letters: cdehilnrstu. Private to "durchschnittliche": -. Private to "durchschnittlicher": -.

"durchschnittliche" · 17 letters · shape CVCCCCCCCVCCCVCCV  ·  "durchschnittlicher" · 18 letters · shape CVCCCCCCCVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durchschnittliche ← ddurchschnittliche · druchschnittliche · ducrhschnittliche · durcchschnittliche · durchcshnittliche · durchhschnittliche · durchscchnittliche · durchschhnittliche
  • durchschnittlicher ← ddurchschnittlicher · druchschnittlicher · ducrhschnittlicher · durcchschnittlicher · durchcshnittlicher · durchhschnittlicher · durchscchnittlicher · durchschhnittlicher

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "durchschnittliche" and "durchschnittlicher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçə] versus [ˈdʊʁçˌʃnɪtlɪçɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "durchschnittliche" or "durchschnittlicher"?
"durchschnittliche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,974 in our German list, against #31,008 for "durchschnittlicher". 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 "durchschnittliche" and "durchschnittlicher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "durchschnittliche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durchschnittlicher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,626,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durchschnittliche" and "durchschnittlicher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "durchschnittlicher vs durchschnittliches". 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 #1,626,873 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