Which to use
“kleine” and “kleiner” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #340
- “kleine” frequency rank
- #860
- “kleiner” frequency rank
- 1200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kleine | kleiner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein | Nominativ Singular des Adjektivs klein |
Where the eye mixes kleine and kleiner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between kleine and kleiner
A purely visual mix-up. kleine ([ˈklaɪ̯nə]) and kleiner ([ˈklaɪ̯nɐ]) 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) - “kleine” sits inside “kleiner”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kleine is recorded at frequency rank #340, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nə]. kleiner is at rank #860, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nɐ].
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 1200, this pair ranks #2,004,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kleine vs kleiner
Shared letters: eikln. Private to "kleine": -. Private to "kleiner": r.
"kleine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "kleiner" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kleine" for "kleiner" ever safe?
Frequency check: "kleine" vs "kleiner" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "kleine" and "kleiner" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "kleine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kleiner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,004,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kleine" and "kleiner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleiner vs kleinster". 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 #2,004,745 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.