afrikanischevsafrikanischenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,216
“afrikanische” frequency rank
#7,433
“afrikanischen” frequency rank
17649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afrikanische afrikanischen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs afrikanisch Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs afrikanisch

Where the eye mixes afrikanische and afrikanischen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. afrikanische runs 12 letters (VCCVCVCVCCCV) against afrikanischen's 13 (VCCVCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
afrikanische
13 ch
afrikanischen

Look-alike desk: afrikanische vs afrikanischen

A purely visual mix-up. afrikanische ([afʁiˈkaːnɪʃə]) and afrikanischen ([afʁiˈkaːnɪʃn̩]) 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) - “afrikanische” sits inside “afrikanischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

afrikanische is recorded at frequency rank #10,216, classified as anadj, pronounced [afʁiˈkaːnɪʃə]. afrikanischen is at rank #7,433, tagged as anadj, pronounced [afʁiˈkaːnɪʃn̩].

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 17649, this pair ranks #1,925,520 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of afrikanische vs afrikanischen

Shared letters: acefhiknrs. Private to "afrikanische": -. Private to "afrikanischen": -.

"afrikanische" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCCCV  ·  "afrikanischen" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afrikanische ← affrikanische · afirkanische · afriaknische · afrikainsche · afrikanicshe · afrikaniscche · afrikanisceh · afrikanischhe
  • afrikanischen ← affrikanischen · afirkanischen · afriaknischen · afrikainschen · afrikanicshen · afrikaniscchen · afrikaniscehn · afrikanischenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "afrikanische" and "afrikanischen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([afʁiˈkaːnɪʃə] versus [afʁiˈkaːnɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "afrikanische" or "afrikanischen" show up more?
"afrikanischen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,433 in our German list, against #10,216 for "afrikanische". 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 "afrikanische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "afrikanischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,925,520 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "afrikanische" and "afrikanischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afrikanische vs afrikanischer". 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 #1,925,520 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