fruchtbarvsfruchtbareWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,309
“fruchtbar” frequency rank
#31,048
“fruchtbare” frequency rank
58357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fruchtbar fruchtbare
Definition zur (starken) Vermehrung fähig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fruchtbar

Where the eye mixes fruchtbar and fruchtbare

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
fruchtbar
10 ch
fruchtbare

Why the eye confuses fruchtbar with fruchtbare

A purely visual mix-up. fruchtbar ([ˈfʁʊxtbaːɐ̯]) and fruchtbare ([ˈfʁʊxtbaːʁə]) 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) - “fruchtbar” sits inside “fruchtbare”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fruchtbar is recorded at frequency rank #27,309, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁʊxtbaːɐ̯]. fruchtbare is at rank #31,048, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁʊxtbaːʁə].

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 58357, this pair ranks #865,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fruchtbar vs fruchtbare

Shared letters: abcfhrtu. Private to "fruchtbar": -. Private to "fruchtbare": e.

"fruchtbar" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCCVC  ·  "fruchtbare" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fruchtbarffruchtbar · frcuhtbar · frruchtbar · frucchtbar · fruchbtar · fruchhtbar · fruchtabr · fruchtbarr
  • fruchtbareffruchtbare · frcuhtbare · frruchtbare · frucchtbare · fruchbtare · fruchhtbare · fruchtabre · fruchtbaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fruchtbar" and "fruchtbare" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfʁʊxtbaːɐ̯] versus [ˈfʁʊxtbaːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fruchtbar" vs "fruchtbare" - which ranks higher?
"fruchtbar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,309 in our German list, against #31,048 for "fruchtbare". 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 "fruchtbar" and "fruchtbare" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fruchtbar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fruchtbare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #865,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fruchtbar" and "fruchtbare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fruchtbare vs fruchtbaren". 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 #865,922 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