Which to use
“sauber” and “saures” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,854
- “sauber” frequency rank
- #42,109
- “saures” frequency rank
- 44963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sauber | saures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht verschmutzt, frei von Unrat | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sauer |
Where the eye mixes sauber and saures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sauber and saures follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses sauber with saures
A purely visual mix-up. sauber ([ˈzaʊ̯bɐ]) and saures ([ˈzaʊ̯ʁəs]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sauber is recorded at frequency rank #2,854, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzaʊ̯bɐ]. saures is at rank #42,109, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzaʊ̯ʁəs].
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 44963, this pair ranks #1,368,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sauber vs saures
Shared letters: aersu. Private to "sauber": b. Private to "saures": -.
"sauber" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "saures" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sauber" for "saures" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sauber" or "saures" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sauber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "saures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,368,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sauber" and "saures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saures vs sources". 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 #1,368,903 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.