totalervstotalesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,230
“totaler” frequency rank
#39,668
“totales” frequency rank
54898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature totaler totales
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs total Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs total

Where the eye mixes totaler and totales

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. totaler and totales follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
totaler
7 ch
totales

Visual trap between totaler and totales

A purely visual mix-up. totaler ([toˈtaːlɐ]) and totales ([toˈtaːləs]) 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 a single letter - r in “totaler” becomes s in “totales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

totaler is recorded at frequency rank #15,230, classified as anadj, pronounced [toˈtaːlɐ]. totales is at rank #39,668, tagged as anadj, pronounced [toˈtaːləs].

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 54898, this pair ranks #1,000,668 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of totaler vs totales

Shared letters: aelot. Private to "totaler": r. Private to "totales": s.

"totaler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "totales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • totaler ← ottaler · toatler · totaelr · totalerr · totaller · totalre · totlaer · tottaler
  • totales ← ottales · toatles · totaels · totaless · totalles · totalse · totlaes · tottales

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "totaler" and "totales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([toˈtaːlɐ] versus [toˈtaːləs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "totaler" or "totales" show up more?
"totaler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,230 in our German list, against #39,668 for "totales". 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 "totaler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "totales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,000,668 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "totaler" and "totales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "totales vs totes". 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 #1,000,668 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