kleinemvsKleinodTell them apart

Quick tell: kleinem is a adjective, Kleinod is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#13,411
“kleinem” frequency rank
#35,271
“Kleinod” frequency rank
48682
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleinem Kleinod
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein Schmuckstück; etwas, das (im positiven Sinne) als besonders, kostbar, erstklassig gilt

Where the eye mixes kleinem and Kleinod

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kleinem and Kleinod follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
kleinem
7 ch
Kleinod

Why the eye confuses kleinem with Kleinod

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kleinem is [ˈklaɪ̯nəm] while Kleinod is [ˈklaɪ̯nʔoːt]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48682, 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]. Kleinod is at rank #35,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nʔoːt].

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 48682, this pair ranks #1,239,531 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kleinem vs Kleinod

Shared letters: eikln. Private to "kleinem": m. Private to "Kleinod": do.

"kleinem" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "Kleinod" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinemkelinem · kkleinem · kleienm · kleinemm · kleinme · kleinnem · kleniem · klienem
  • Kleinodkelinod · kkleinod · kleindo · kleinnod · kleinodd · kleiond · kleniod · klienod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kleinem" for "Kleinod" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kleinem" is an adjective and "Kleinod" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kleinem" or "Kleinod"?
"kleinem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,411 in our German list, against #35,271 for "Kleinod". 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 "Kleinod" 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 "Kleinod" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,239,531 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleinem" and "Kleinod" 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 #1,239,531 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