kleinervskleinereConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#860
“kleiner” frequency rank
#2,660
“kleinere” frequency rank
3520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleiner kleinere
Definition Nominativ Singular des Adjektivs klein Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs klein

Where the eye mixes kleiner and kleinere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. kleiner 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
kleiner
8 ch
kleinere

Look-alike desk: kleiner vs kleinere

A purely visual mix-up. kleiner ([ˈklaɪ̯nɐ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “kleiner” sits inside “kleinere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleiner is recorded at frequency rank #860, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nɐ]. 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 3520, this pair ranks #2,000,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kleiner vs kleinere

Shared letters: eiklnr. Private to "kleiner": -. Private to "kleinere": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinerkeliner · kkleiner · kleienr · kleinerr · kleinner · kleinre · klenier · kliener
  • kleinerekelinere · kkleinere · kleienre · kleineer · kleinerre · kleinnere · kleinree · kleniere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kleiner" and "kleinere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaɪ̯nɐ] versus [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kleiner" or "kleinere"?
"kleiner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #860 in our German list, against #2,660 for "kleinere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleiner" 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 #2,000,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleiner" and "kleinere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleinere 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 #2,000,028 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