KlägervsklugesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Kläger is a noun, kluges is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Kläger” is a noun and “kluges” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,052
“Kläger” frequency rank
#40,035
“kluges” frequency rank
49087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kläger kluges
Definition jemand, der vor Gericht eine Klage führt Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs klug

Where the eye mixes Kläger and kluges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Kläger and kluges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Kläger
6 ch
kluges

Why the eye confuses Kläger with kluges

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Kläger is [ˈklɛːɡɐ] while kluges is [ˈkluːɡəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kläger is recorded at frequency rank #9,052, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈklɛːɡɐ]. kluges is at rank #40,035, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkluːɡəs].

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 49087, this pair ranks #1,224,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Kläger vs kluges

Shared letters: egkl. Private to "Kläger": rä. Private to "kluges": su.

"Kläger" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "kluges" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kluges ← kkluges · klgues · klluges · kluegs · klugess · klugges · klugse · kulges

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Kläger" and "kluges" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Kläger" is a noun and "kluges" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Kläger" or "kluges" show up more?
"Kläger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,052 in our German list, against #40,035 for "kluges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Kläger" and "kluges" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kläger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kluges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,224,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kläger" and "kluges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Klägers vs kluges". 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 #1,224,542 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