arabischevsArabischenConfusable pair

Quick tell: arabische is a adjective, Arabischen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arabische” is an adjective and “Arabischen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,861
“arabische” frequency rank
#4,763
“Arabischen” frequency rank
12624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arabische Arabischen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs arabisch Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Arabisch

Where the eye mixes arabische and Arabischen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. arabische runs 9 letters (VCVCVCCCV) against Arabischen's 10 (VCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
arabische
10 ch
Arabischen

Visual trap between arabische and Arabischen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arabische is [aˈʁaːbɪʃə] while Arabischen is [aˈʁaːbɪʃn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “arabische” sits inside “Arabischen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arabische is recorded at frequency rank #7,861, classified as anadj, pronounced [aˈʁaːbɪʃə]. Arabischen is at rank #4,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈʁaːbɪʃn̩].

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 12624, this pair ranks #1,963,047 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of arabische vs Arabischen

Shared letters: abcehirs. Private to "arabische": -. Private to "Arabischen": n.

"arabische" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCCV  ·  "Arabischen" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arabische ← aarbische · arabbische · arabicshe · arabiscche · arabisceh · arabischhe · arabishce · arabissche
  • Arabischen ← aarbischen · arabbischen · arabicshen · arabiscchen · arabiscehn · arabischenn · arabischhen · arabischne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arabische" for "Arabischen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arabische" is an adjective and "Arabischen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "arabische" or "Arabischen" show up more?
"Arabischen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,763 in our German list, against #7,861 for "arabische". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "arabische" and "Arabischen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arabische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Arabischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,963,047 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arabische" and "Arabischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arabische vs arabisches". 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 #1,963,047 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