oberevsoberesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,403
“obere” frequency rank
#30,223
“oberes” frequency rank
35626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obere oberes
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ober- Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ober-

Where the eye mixes obere and oberes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. obere runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against oberes's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
obere
6 ch
oberes

Look-alike desk: obere vs oberes

A purely visual mix-up. obere ([ˈoːbəʁə]) and oberes ([ˈoːbəʁəs]) 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) - “obere” sits inside “oberes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35626, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obere is recorded at frequency rank #5,403, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈoːbəʁə]. oberes is at rank #30,223, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈoːbəʁəs].

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 35626, this pair ranks #1,635,503 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obere vs oberes

Shared letters: beor. Private to "obere": -. Private to "oberes": s.

"obere" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "oberes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obere ← boere · obbere · obeer · oberre · obree · oebre
  • oberes ← boeres · obberes · obeers · oberess · oberres · oberse · obrees · oebres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obere" and "oberes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoːbəʁə] versus [ˈoːbəʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "obere" or "oberes"?
"obere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,403 in our German list, against #30,223 for "oberes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "obere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "oberes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,635,503 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obere" and "oberes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oberer vs oberes". 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 #1,635,503 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