zufälligevszufälligerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,093
“zufällige” frequency rank
#45,062
“zufälliger” frequency rank
64155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zufällige zufälliger
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zufällig Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zufällig

Where the eye mixes zufällige and zufälliger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. zufällige runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against zufälliger's 10 (CVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
zufällige
10 ch
zufälliger

Visual trap between zufällige and zufälliger

A purely visual mix-up. zufällige ([ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡə]) and zufälliger ([ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡɐ]) 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) - “zufällige” sits inside “zufälliger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zufällige is recorded at frequency rank #19,093, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡə]. zufälliger is at rank #45,062, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡɐ].

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 64155, this pair ranks #651,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zufällige vs zufälliger

Shared letters: efgiluzä. Private to "zufällige": -. Private to "zufälliger": r.

"zufällige" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "zufälliger" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "zufällige" and "zufälliger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡə] versus [ˈt͡suːfɛlɪɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "zufällige" vs "zufälliger" - which ranks higher?
"zufällige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,093 in our German list, against #45,062 for "zufälliger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "zufällige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zufälliger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #651,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zufällige" and "zufälliger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zufälligen vs zufälliger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #651,502 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