suboptimal

[ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl]

/[ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“suboptimal” has 15 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #39,055. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,055
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords
15
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht ganz perfekt, nicht optimal

Corpus desk

Index DE-suboptimal · suboptimal · German

suboptimal · rank #39,055 · 15 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,055
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Ställen

Nearest frequency peer: Ställen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „suboptimal“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „suboptimal“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for suboptimal
PropertyValue
Headwordsuboptimal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl]
Letters10
Frequency rank#39,055
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „suboptimal“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).suboptimalliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Ställen“ (#39,054), „Suffix“ (#39,056), „Sträuchern“ (#39,053). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „suboptimal“ bei #39,055. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around suboptimal (IPA [ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #39,055 among 8,027 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for suboptimal, with forms such as "sbuoptimal", "ssuboptimal", and "subboptimal". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is suboptimal, spelled S-U-B-O-P-T-I-M-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    nicht ganz perfekt, nicht optimal
  2. 2
    überhaupt nicht gut, sehr ungünstig, beschissen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how suboptimal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Die Umsetzung des Projektes war suboptimal.
  2. „Heuristische Verfahren suchen mit Hilfe geeigneter Regeln nur eine Teilmenge des zulässigen Bereiches ab und können deshalb nicht garantieren, daß die beste gefundene Lösung optimal ist; sie liefern also im allgemeinen suboptimale Lösungen.“

Synonyms

unvollendetschlecht

Antonyms

makellosoptimalperfekttadellosvollendet

This word in other languages

suboptimal(English)sous-optimal(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sbuoptimal
  • ssuboptimal
  • subboptimal
  • subopitmal
  • subopptimal
  • suboptiaml
  • suboptimall
  • suboptimla
  • suboptimmal
  • suboptmial
  • subopttimal
  • subotpimal
  • subpotimal
  • suobptimal
  • usboptimal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of suboptimal - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

sbuoptimal2ssuboptimal1subboptimal1subopitmal2subopptimal1suboptiaml2suboptimall1suboptimla2
Edit distance from "suboptimal"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "suboptimal"?
"suboptimal" is spelled S-U-B-O-P-T-I-M-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl].
What does "suboptimal" mean?
As an adjective, "suboptimal" means: nicht ganz perfekt, nicht optimal
What are common misspellings of "suboptimal"?
Common misspellings include "sbuoptimal", "ssuboptimal", "subboptimal", "subopitmal", "subopptimal". The correct spelling is "suboptimal".
How do you pronounce "suboptimal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "suboptimal" is [ˌzʊpʔɔptiˈmaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "suboptimal" come from?
"suboptimal" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "suboptimal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Sträuchern#39,053stimuliert#39,048Staatsform#39,040Umsiedlung#39,080

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

Stimmabgabe15 variantsumzudrehen15 variantsSiegtreffer15 variantsVermieters15 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list