mehrfachvsmehrfacherWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,031
“mehrfach” frequency rank
#19,644
“mehrfacher” frequency rank
21675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mehrfach mehrfacher
Definition auf die gleiche Art öfter (nacheinander) auftretend; sich wiederholend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs mehrfach

Where the eye mixes mehrfach and mehrfacher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. mehrfach runs 8 letters (CVCCCVCC) against mehrfacher's 10 (CVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
mehrfach
10 ch
mehrfacher

Visual trap between mehrfach and mehrfacher

A purely visual mix-up. mehrfach ([ˈmeːɐ̯fax]) and mehrfacher ([ˈmeːɐ̯faxɐ]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “mehrfach” sits inside “mehrfacher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mehrfach is recorded at frequency rank #2,031, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmeːɐ̯fax]. mehrfacher is at rank #19,644, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmeːɐ̯faxɐ].

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 21675, this pair ranks #1,883,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mehrfach vs mehrfacher

Shared letters: acefhmr. Private to "mehrfach": -. Private to "mehrfacher": -.

"mehrfach" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC  ·  "mehrfacher" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mehrfach ← emhrfach · mehfrach · mehhrfach · mehrafch · mehrfacch · mehrfachh · mehrfahc · mehrfcah
  • mehrfacher ← emhrfacher · mehfracher · mehhrfacher · mehrafcher · mehrfaccher · mehrfacehr · mehrfacherr · mehrfachher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mehrfach" for "mehrfacher" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeːɐ̯fax] versus [ˈmeːɐ̯faxɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mehrfach" or "mehrfacher" show up more?
"mehrfach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,031 in our German list, against #19,644 for "mehrfacher". 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 "mehrfach" and "mehrfacher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mehrfach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mehrfacher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,883,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mehrfach" and "mehrfacher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mehrfachen vs mehrfacher". 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 #1,883,455 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