tapfervstapfereTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,958
“tapfer” frequency rank
#30,320
“tapfere” frequency rank
44278
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tapfer tapfere
Definition ohne Angst, Furcht (beziehungsweise Angst/Furcht beherrschend) und bereit, anhaltend gegen Gefahren und Schwierigkeiten zu kämpfen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tapfer

Where the eye mixes tapfer and tapfere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tapfer
7 ch
tapfere

Why the eye confuses tapfer with tapfere

A purely visual mix-up. tapfer ([ˈtap͡fɐ]) and tapfere ([ˈtap͡fəʁə]) 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) - “tapfer” sits inside “tapfere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tapfer is recorded at frequency rank #13,958, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtap͡fɐ]. tapfere is at rank #30,320, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtap͡fəʁə].

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 44278, this pair ranks #1,391,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tapfer vs tapfere

Shared letters: aefprt. Private to "tapfer": -. Private to "tapfere": -.

"tapfer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tapfere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tapferatpfer · tafper · tapefr · tapferr · tapffer · tapfre · tappfer · tpafer
  • tapfereatpfere · tafpere · tapefre · tapfeer · tapferre · tapffere · tapfree · tappfere

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tapfer" and "tapfere" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtap͡fɐ] versus [ˈtap͡fəʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "tapfer" or "tapfere" show up more?
"tapfer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,958 in our German list, against #30,320 for "tapfere". 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 "tapfer" and "tapfere" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tapfer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tapfere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,391,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tapfer" and "tapfere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tapfere vs Täufer". 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 #1,391,346 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