kleinerevskleinesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,660
“kleinere” frequency rank
#1,300
“kleines” frequency rank
3960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleinere kleines
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs klein Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein

Where the eye mixes kleinere and kleines

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

8 ch
kleinere
7 ch
kleines

Visual trap between kleinere and kleines

A purely visual mix-up. kleinere ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]) and kleines ([ˈklaɪ̯nəs]) 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 3960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleinere is recorded at frequency rank #2,660, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə]. kleines is at rank #1,300, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəs].

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 3960, this pair ranks #1,998,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kleinere vs kleines

Shared letters: eikln. Private to "kleinere": r. Private to "kleines": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinerekelinere · kkleinere · kleienre · kleineer · kleinerre · kleinnere · kleinree · kleniere
  • kleineskelines · kkleines · kleiens · kleiness · kleinnes · kleinse · klenies · klienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kleinere" for "kleines" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaɪ̯nəʁə] versus [ˈklaɪ̯nəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kleinere" or "kleines" show up more?
"kleines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,300 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kleines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleinere" and "kleines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kleinbus vs kleines". 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 #1,998,919 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