RadfahrervsRadfahrerinWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,924
“Radfahrer” frequency rank
#44,157
“Radfahrerin” frequency rank
49081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Radfahrer Radfahrerin
Definition jemand, der mit dem Fahrrad fährt weibliche Person, die mit einem Fahrrad fährt

Where the eye mixes Radfahrer and Radfahrerin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
Radfahrer
11 ch
Radfahrerin

Visual trap between Radfahrer and Radfahrerin

A purely visual mix-up. Radfahrer ([ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁɐ]) and Radfahrerin ([ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁəʁɪn]) 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) - “Radfahrer” sits inside “Radfahrerin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Radfahrer is recorded at frequency rank #4,924, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁɐ]. Radfahrerin is at rank #44,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁəʁɪn].

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 49081, this pair ranks #1,224,760 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Radfahrer vs Radfahrerin

Shared letters: adefhr. Private to "Radfahrer": -. Private to "Radfahrerin": in.

"Radfahrer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "Radfahrerin" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Radfahrerardfahrer · radafhrer · raddfahrer · radfaherr · radfahhrer · radfahrerr · radfahrre · radfahrrer
  • Radfahrerinardfahrerin · radafhrerin · raddfahrerin · radfaherrin · radfahhrerin · radfahreirn · radfahrerinn · radfahrerni

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Radfahrer" for "Radfahrerin" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁɐ] versus [ˈʁaːtˌfaːʁəʁɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Radfahrer" or "Radfahrerin"?
"Radfahrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,924 in our German list, against #44,157 for "Radfahrerin". 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 "Radfahrer" and "Radfahrerin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Radfahrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Radfahrerin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,224,760 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Radfahrer" and "Radfahrerin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Radfahrerin vs Radfahrern". 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 #1,224,760 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