allgemeinvsallgemeinenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,501
“allgemein” frequency rank
#1,534
“allgemeinen” frequency rank
3035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allgemein allgemeinen
Definition überall Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs allgemein

Where the eye mixes allgemein and allgemeinen

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

9 ch
allgemein
11 ch
allgemeinen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. allgemein ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯n]) and allgemeinen ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nən]) 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 “allgemeinen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3035, 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]. allgemeinen is at rank #1,534, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nən].

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 3035, this pair ranks #2,001,091 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allgemein vs allgemeinen

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

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allgemeinalgemein · alglemein · allegmein · allgeemin · allgemeinn · allgemeni · allgemien · allgemmein
  • allgemeinenalgemeinen · alglemeinen · allegmeinen · allgeeminen · allgemeienn · allgemeinenn · allgemeinne · allgemeinnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allgemein" and "allgemeinen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯n] versus [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "allgemein" or "allgemeinen"?
"allgemein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,501 in our German list, against #1,534 for "allgemeinen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list