sichervssicheresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#270
“sicher” frequency rank
#10,747
“sicheres” frequency rank
11017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sicher sicheres
Definition vor Gefahren geschützt Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sicher

Where the eye mixes sicher and sicheres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. sicher runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sicheres's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sicher
8 ch
sicheres

Why the eye confuses sicher with sicheres

A purely visual mix-up. sicher ([ˈzɪçɐ]) and sicheres ([ˈzɪçəʁəs]) 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) - “sicher” sits inside “sicheres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sicher is recorded at frequency rank #270, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɪçɐ]. sicheres is at rank #10,747, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɪçəʁəs].

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 11017, this pair ranks #1,972,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sicher vs sicheres

Shared letters: cehirs. Private to "sicher": -. Private to "sicheres": -.

"sicher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sicheres" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sicher ← ischer · sciher · siccher · sicehr · sicherr · sichher · sichre · sihcer
  • sicheres ← ischeres · sciheres · siccheres · sicehres · sicheers · sicheress · sicherres · sicherse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sicher" and "sicheres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪçɐ] versus [ˈzɪçəʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sicher" or "sicheres"?
"sicher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #270 in our German list, against #10,747 for "sicheres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sicher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sicheres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,972,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sicher" and "sicheres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sacher vs sicher". 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 #1,972,133 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