errorvsmediaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,958
“error” frequency rank
#2,351
“media” frequency rank
24309
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature error media
Definition Fehler, Irrtum, Schnitzer Durchschnitt

Letter map: error vs media

Shared letters muted; letters that set error and media apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

5 ch
error
5 ch
media

Pair insight - error / media

error and media are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

error is recorded at frequency rank #21,958, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. media is at rank #2,351, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 24309, this pair ranks #1,849,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of error vs media

Shared letters: e. Private to "error": or. Private to "media": adim.

"error" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "media" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erroreror · erorr · errorr · errro · reror
  • mediaemdia · mdeia · medai · meddia · meida · mmedia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "error" for "media" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "error" vs "media" - which ranks higher?
"media" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,351 in our German list, against #21,958 for "error". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "error" and "media".

  • Full dictionary entry for "error" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "media" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,849,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "error" and "media" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "error vs puzzles". 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 #1,849,450 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