Which to use
“mager” and “magere” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,349
- “mager” frequency rank
- #33,708
- “magere” frequency rank
- 55057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mager | magere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dünn, dürr | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mager |
Where the eye mixes mager and magere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mager runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against magere's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mager with magere
A purely visual mix-up. mager ([ˈmaːɡɐ]) and magere ([ˈmaːɡəʁə]) 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) - “mager” sits inside “magere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mager is recorded at frequency rank #21,349, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmaːɡɐ]. magere is at rank #33,708, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmaːɡəʁə].
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 55057, this pair ranks #994,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mager vs magere
Shared letters: aegmr. Private to "mager": -. Private to "magere": -.
"mager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "magere" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mager" for "magere" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mager" vs "magere" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mager" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "magere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #994,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mager" and "magere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magere vs magnete". 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 #994,452 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.