spanischevsspanischerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,651
“spanische” frequency rank
#19,718
“spanischer” frequency rank
25369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spanische spanischer
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spanisch Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs spanisch

Where the eye mixes spanische and spanischer

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

9 ch
spanische
10 ch
spanischer

Look-alike desk: spanische vs spanischer

A purely visual mix-up. spanische ([ˈʃpaːnɪʃə]) and spanischer ([ˈʃpaːnɪʃɐ]) 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) - “spanische” sits inside “spanischer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spanische is recorded at frequency rank #5,651, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpaːnɪʃə]. spanischer is at rank #19,718, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpaːnɪʃɐ].

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 25369, this pair ranks #1,834,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spanische vs spanischer

Shared letters: acehinps. Private to "spanische": -. Private to "spanischer": r.

"spanische" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCCV  ·  "spanischer" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spanischepsanische · sapnische · spainsche · spanicshe · spaniscche · spanisceh · spanischhe · spanishce
  • spanischerpsanischer · sapnischer · spainscher · spanicsher · spanisccher · spaniscehr · spanischerr · spanischher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spanische" for "spanischer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃpaːnɪʃə] versus [ˈʃpaːnɪʃɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "spanische" or "spanischer"?
"spanische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,651 in our German list, against #19,718 for "spanischer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "spanische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spanischer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,834,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spanische" and "spanischer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spanischer vs spanisches". 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 #1,834,327 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