operavsOpferConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#14,141
“opera” frequency rank
#837
“Opfer” frequency rank
14978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opera Opfer
Definition das Werk, die Arbeit meist rituelle Gabe an einen Gott

Where the eye mixes opera and Opfer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
opera
5 ch
Opfer

Visual trap between opera and Opfer

A purely visual mix-up. opera ([ˈɔːpera]) and Opfer ([ˈɔp͡fɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opera is recorded at frequency rank #14,141, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔːpera]. Opfer is at rank #837, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔp͡fɐ].

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 14978, this pair ranks #1,947,350 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of opera vs Opfer

Shared letters: eopr. Private to "opera": a. Private to "Opfer": f.

"opera" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "Opfer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • operaoepra · opear · operra · oppera · oprea · poera
  • Opferofper · opefr · opferr · opffer · opfre · oppfer · pofer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "opera" and "Opfer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɔːpera] versus [ˈɔp͡fɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "opera" or "Opfer" show up more?
"Opfer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #837 in our German list, against #14,141 for "opera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "opera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Opfer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,947,350 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "opera" and "Opfer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OPEC vs opera". 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 #1,947,350 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