überragendevsüberragenderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,270
“überragende” frequency rank
#43,671
“überragender” frequency rank
69941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature überragende überragender
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs überragend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs überragend

Where the eye mixes überragende and überragender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. überragende runs 11 letters (VCVCCVCVCCV) against überragender's 12 (VCVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
überragende
12 ch
überragender

Visual trap between überragende and überragender

A purely visual mix-up. überragende ([ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩də]) and überragender ([ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩dɐ]) 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) - “überragende” sits inside “überragender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

überragende is recorded at frequency rank #26,270, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩də]. überragender is at rank #43,671, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩dɐ].

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 69941, this pair ranks #461,324 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of überragende vs überragender

Shared letters: abdegnrü. Private to "überragende": -. Private to "überragender": -.

"überragende" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCVCCV  ·  "überragender" · 12 letters · shape VCVCCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "überragende" and "überragender" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩də] versus [ˌyːbɐˈʁaːɡn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "überragende" or "überragender" show up more?
"überragende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,270 in our German list, against #43,671 for "überragender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "überragende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "überragender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #461,324 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "überragende" and "überragender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "überragenden vs überragender". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #461,324 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