harmlosenvsharmloserTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,369
“harmlosen” frequency rank
#34,715
“harmloser” frequency rank
57084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature harmlosen harmloser
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs harmlos Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs harmlos

Where the eye mixes harmlosen and harmloser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
harmlosen
9 ch
harmloser

Visual trap between harmlosen and harmloser

A purely visual mix-up. harmlosen ([ˈhaʁmloːzn̩]) and harmloser ([ˈhaʁmloːzɐ]) 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 a single letter - n in “harmlosen” becomes r in “harmloser”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

harmlosen is recorded at frequency rank #22,369, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaʁmloːzn̩]. harmloser is at rank #34,715, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaʁmloːzɐ].

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 57084, this pair ranks #915,111 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of harmlosen vs harmloser

Shared letters: aehlmors. Private to "harmlosen": n. Private to "harmloser": -.

"harmlosen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "harmloser" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • harmlosenahrmlosen · hamrlosen · harlmosen · harmllosen · harmloesn · harmlosenn · harmlosne · harmlossen
  • harmloserahrmloser · hamrloser · harlmoser · harmlloser · harmloesr · harmloserr · harmlosre · harmlosser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "harmlosen" for "harmloser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaʁmloːzn̩] versus [ˈhaʁmloːzɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "harmlosen" vs "harmloser" - which ranks higher?
"harmlosen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,369 in our German list, against #34,715 for "harmloser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "harmlosen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "harmloser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #915,111 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "harmlosen" and "harmloser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harmlose vs harmloser". 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 #915,111 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