tiefervstiefereTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,621
“tiefer” frequency rank
#20,752
“tiefere” frequency rank
24373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tiefer tiefere
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs tief Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs tief

Where the eye mixes tiefer and tiefere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. tiefer runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against tiefere's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tiefer
7 ch
tiefere

Visual trap between tiefer and tiefere

A purely visual mix-up. tiefer ([ˈtiːfɐ]) and tiefere ([ˈtiːfəʁə]) 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) - “tiefer” sits inside “tiefere”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tiefer is recorded at frequency rank #3,621, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtiːfɐ]. tiefere is at rank #20,752, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtiːfəʁə].

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 24373, this pair ranks #1,848,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tiefer vs tiefere

Shared letters: efirt. Private to "tiefer": -. Private to "tiefere": -.

"tiefer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "tiefere" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tieferitefer · teifer · tieefr · tieferr · tieffer · tiefre · tifeer · ttiefer
  • tiefereitefere · teifere · tieefre · tiefeer · tieferre · tieffere · tiefree · tifeere

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tiefer" for "tiefere" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtiːfɐ] versus [ˈtiːfəʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tiefer" vs "tiefere" - which ranks higher?
"tiefer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,621 in our German list, against #20,752 for "tiefere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "tiefer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tiefere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,848,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tiefer" and "tiefere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tiefere vs Tiefsee". 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 #1,848,564 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