wirksamervswirksamesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,697
“wirksamer” frequency rank
#36,136
“wirksames” frequency rank
62833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirksamer wirksames
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs wirksam Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wirksam

Where the eye mixes wirksamer and wirksames

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. wirksamer and wirksames follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
wirksamer
9 ch
wirksames

Why the eye confuses wirksamer with wirksames

A purely visual mix-up. wirksamer ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmɐ]) and wirksames ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːməs]) 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 “wirksamer” becomes s in “wirksames”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wirksamer is recorded at frequency rank #26,697, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmɐ]. wirksames is at rank #36,136, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːməs].

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 62833, this pair ranks #698,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wirksamer vs wirksames

Shared letters: aeikmrsw. Private to "wirksamer": -. Private to "wirksames": -.

"wirksamer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "wirksames" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirksamer ← iwrksamer · wikrsamer · wirkasmer · wirkksamer · wirksaemr · wirksamerr · wirksammer · wirksamre
  • wirksames ← iwrksames · wikrsames · wirkasmes · wirkksames · wirksaems · wirksamess · wirksammes · wirksamse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wirksamer" and "wirksames" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmɐ] versus [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːməs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wirksamer" or "wirksames" show up more?
"wirksamer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,697 in our German list, against #36,136 for "wirksames". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wirksamer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wirksames" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #698,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wirksamer" and "wirksames" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wirksamen vs wirksames". 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 #698,561 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