prekärvsprekäreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,576
“prekär” frequency rank
#32,717
“prekäre” frequency rank
72293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prekär prekäre
Definition widerruflich, unsicher Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs prekär

Where the eye mixes prekär and prekäre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prekär runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against prekäre's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
prekär
7 ch
prekäre

Why the eye confuses prekär with prekäre

A purely visual mix-up. prekär ([pʁeˈkɛːɐ̯]) and prekäre ([pʁeˈkɛːʁə]) 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) - “prekär” sits inside “prekäre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prekär is recorded at frequency rank #39,576, classified as anadj, pronounced [pʁeˈkɛːɐ̯]. prekäre is at rank #32,717, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pʁeˈkɛːʁə].

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 72293, this pair ranks #392,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prekär vs prekäre

Shared letters: ekprä. Private to "prekär": -. Private to "prekäre": -.

"prekär" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "prekäre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prekär" and "prekäre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([pʁeˈkɛːɐ̯] versus [pʁeˈkɛːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "prekär" or "prekäre" show up more?
"prekäre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,717 in our German list, against #39,576 for "prekär". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "prekär" and "prekäre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prekär" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prekäre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prekär" and "prekäre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prekär vs prekären". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #392,381 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