SchwächevsschwächereConfusable pair

Quick tell: Schwäche is a noun, schwächere is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Schwäche” is a noun and “schwächere” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,003
“Schwäche” frequency rank
#21,764
“schwächere” frequency rank
27767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Schwäche schwächere
Definition mangelnde körperliche oder geistige Kraft Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs schwach

Where the eye mixes Schwäche and schwächere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Schwäche runs 8 letters (CCCCVCCV) against schwächere's 10 (CCCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Schwäche
10 ch
schwächere

Visual trap between Schwäche and schwächere

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Schwäche is [ˈʃvɛçə] while schwächere is [ˈʃvɛçəʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Schwäche” sits inside “schwächere”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Schwäche is recorded at frequency rank #6,003, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃvɛçə]. schwächere is at rank #21,764, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃvɛçəʁə].

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 27767, this pair ranks #1,796,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Schwäche vs schwächere

Shared letters: cehswä. Private to "Schwäche": -. Private to "schwächere": r.

"Schwäche" · 8 letters · shape CCCCVCCV  ·  "schwächere" · 10 letters · shape CCCCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Schwäche" for "schwächere" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Schwäche" is a noun and "schwächere" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Schwäche" or "schwächere" show up more?
"Schwäche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,003 in our German list, against #21,764 for "schwächere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Schwäche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwächere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,796,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Schwäche" and "schwächere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwachem vs schwächere". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,796,237 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