allgemeinevsallgemeinenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,755
“allgemeine” frequency rank
#1,534
“allgemeinen” frequency rank
3289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allgemeine allgemeinen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs allgemein Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs allgemein

Where the eye mixes allgemeine and allgemeinen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

10 ch
allgemeine
11 ch
allgemeinen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. allgemeine ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “allgemeine” sits inside “allgemeinen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allgemeine is recorded at frequency rank #1,755, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nə]. 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 3289, this pair ranks #2,000,524 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allgemeine vs allgemeinen

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

"allgemeine" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCV  ·  "allgemeinen" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allgemeinealgemeine · alglemeine · allegmeine · allgeemine · allgemeien · allgemenie · allgemiene · allgemmeine
  • allgemeinenalgemeinen · alglemeinen · allegmeinen · allgeeminen · allgemeienn · allgemeinenn · allgemeinne · allgemeinnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allgemeine" and "allgemeinen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nə] versus [ˌalɡəˈmaɪ̯nən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "allgemeine" or "allgemeinen"?
"allgemeinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,534 in our German list, against #1,755 for "allgemeine". 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