kleinemvskleinereWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,411
“kleinem” frequency rank
#2,660
“kleinere” frequency rank
16071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleinem kleinere
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs klein

Where the eye mixes kleinem and kleinere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. kleinem runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against kleinere's 8 (CCVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
kleinem
8 ch
kleinere

Why the eye confuses kleinem with kleinere

A purely visual mix-up. kleinem ([ˈklaɪ̯nəm]) and kleinere ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleinem is recorded at frequency rank #13,411, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəm]. kleinere is at rank #2,660, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə].

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 16071, this pair ranks #1,938,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kleinem vs kleinere

Shared letters: eikln. Private to "kleinem": m. Private to "kleinere": r.

"kleinem" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "kleinere" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinemkelinem · kkleinem · kleienm · kleinemm · kleinme · kleinnem · kleniem · klienem
  • kleinerekelinere · kkleinere · kleienre · kleineer · kleinerre · kleinnere · kleinree · kleniere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kleinem" and "kleinere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaɪ̯nəm] versus [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kleinem" or "kleinere"?
"kleinere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,660 in our German list, against #13,411 for "kleinem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,938,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleinem" and "kleinere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleinem vs kleinerem". 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 #1,938,840 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