kostenlosenvskostenloserTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,739
“kostenlosen” frequency rank
#13,881
“kostenloser” frequency rank
22620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kostenlosen kostenloser
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kostenlos Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kostenlos

Where the eye mixes kostenlosen and kostenloser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. kostenlosen and kostenloser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
kostenlosen
11 ch
kostenloser

Visual trap between kostenlosen and kostenloser

A purely visual mix-up. kostenlosen ([ˈkɔstn̩loːzn̩]) and kostenloser ([ˈkɔstn̩loːzɐ]) 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 a single letter - n in “kostenlosen” becomes r in “kostenloser”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kostenlosen is recorded at frequency rank #8,739, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɔstn̩loːzn̩]. kostenloser is at rank #13,881, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɔstn̩loːzɐ].

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 22620, this pair ranks #1,871,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kostenlosen vs kostenloser

Shared letters: eklnost. Private to "kostenlosen": -. Private to "kostenloser": r.

"kostenlosen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC  ·  "kostenloser" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kostenlosen ← kkostenlosen · kosetnlosen · kosstenlosen · kostelnosen · kostenllosen · kostenloesn · kostenlosenn · kostenlosne
  • kostenloser ← kkostenloser · kosetnloser · kosstenloser · kostelnoser · kostenlloser · kostenloesr · kostenloserr · kostenlosre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kostenlosen" and "kostenloser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɔstn̩loːzn̩] versus [ˈkɔstn̩loːzɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kostenlosen" or "kostenloser"?
"kostenlosen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,739 in our German list, against #13,881 for "kostenloser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kostenlosen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kostenloser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,871,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kostenlosen" and "kostenloser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kostenloser vs kostenloses". 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 #1,871,919 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