glattvsglatterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,435
“glatt” frequency rank
#28,224
“glatter” frequency rank
32659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature glatt glatter
Definition ohne Rauigkeiten und Unebenheiten Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs glatt

Where the eye mixes glatt and glatter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
glatt
7 ch
glatter

Visual trap between glatt and glatter

A purely visual mix-up. glatt ([ɡlat]) and glatter ([ˈɡlatɐ]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “glatt” sits inside “glatter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

glatt is recorded at frequency rank #4,435, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡlat]. glatter is at rank #28,224, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡlatɐ].

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 32659, this pair ranks #1,702,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of glatt vs glatter

Shared letters: aglt. Private to "glatt": -. Private to "glatter": er.

"glatt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "glatter" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • glattgglatt · gllatt · gltat · lgatt
  • glattergaltter · gglatter · glater · glatetr · glatterr · glattre · gllatter · gltater

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "glatt" and "glatter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡlat] versus [ˈɡlatɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "glatt" or "glatter" show up more?
"glatt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,435 in our German list, against #28,224 for "glatter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "glatt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "glatter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,702,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "glatt" and "glatter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Glatteis vs glatter". 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 #1,702,865 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