allgemeinvsallgemeinemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,501
“allgemein” frequency rank
#47,195
“allgemeinem” frequency rank
48696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allgemein allgemeinem
Definition überall Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs allgemein

Where the eye mixes allgemein and allgemeinem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
allgemein
11 ch
allgemeinem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. allgemein ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯n]) and allgemeinem ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nəm]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “allgemein” sits inside “allgemeinem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allgemein is recorded at frequency rank #1,501, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯n]. allgemeinem is at rank #47,195, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nəm].

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 48696, this pair ranks #1,239,053 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of allgemein vs allgemeinem

Shared letters: aegilmn. Private to "allgemein": -. Private to "allgemeinem": -.

"allgemein" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVVC  ·  "allgemeinem" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allgemeinalgemein · alglemein · allegmein · allgeemin · allgemeinn · allgemeni · allgemien · allgemmein
  • allgemeinemalgemeinem · alglemeinem · allegmeinem · allgeeminem · allgemeienm · allgemeinemm · allgemeinme · allgemeinnem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allgemein" and "allgemeinem" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯n] versus [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "allgemein" or "allgemeinem"?
"allgemein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,501 in our German list, against #47,195 for "allgemeinem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list