Which to use
“früher” and “frühere” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #518
- “früher” frequency rank
- #3,732
- “frühere” frequency rank
- 4250
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | früher | frühere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zeitlich vorher | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs früh |
Where the eye mixes früher and frühere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between früher and frühere
A purely visual mix-up. früher ([ˈfʁyːɐ]) and frühere ([ˈfʁyːəʁə]) 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) - “früher” sits inside “frühere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4250, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
früher is recorded at frequency rank #518, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːɐ]. frühere is at rank #3,732, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁyːəʁə].
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 4250, this pair ranks #1,998,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of früher vs frühere
Shared letters: efhrü. Private to "früher": -. Private to "frühere": -.
"früher" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "frühere" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "früher" for "frühere" ever safe?
Frequency check: "früher" vs "frühere" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "früher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frühere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,998,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "früher" and "frühere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "friere vs frühere". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,998,177 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.