wertvollenvswertvollerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,785
“wertvollen” frequency rank
#13,984
“wertvoller” frequency rank
25769
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wertvollen wertvoller
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wertvoll Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs wertvoll

Where the eye mixes wertvollen and wertvoller

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. wertvollen and wertvoller follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
wertvollen
10 ch
wertvoller

Why the eye confuses wertvollen with wertvoller

A purely visual mix-up. wertvollen ([ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlən]) and wertvoller ([ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlɐ]) 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 - n in “wertvollen” becomes r in “wertvoller”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wertvollen is recorded at frequency rank #11,785, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlən]. wertvoller is at rank #13,984, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlɐ].

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 25769, this pair ranks #1,828,266 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wertvollen vs wertvoller

Shared letters: elortvw. Private to "wertvollen": n. Private to "wertvoller": -.

"wertvollen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "wertvoller" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wertvollen ← ewrtvollen · werrtvollen · wertovllen · werttvollen · wertvlolen · wertvoleln · wertvolen · wertvollenn
  • wertvoller ← ewrtvoller · werrtvoller · wertovller · werttvoller · wertvloler · wertvolelr · wertvoler · wertvollerr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wertvollen" for "wertvoller" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlən] versus [ˈveːɐ̯tˌfɔlɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wertvollen" or "wertvoller" show up more?
"wertvollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,785 in our German list, against #13,984 for "wertvoller". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "wertvollen" and "wertvoller" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wertvollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wertvoller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,828,266 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wertvollen" and "wertvoller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wertvollen vs wertvollsten". 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 #1,828,266 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