bisherigevsbisherigerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,965
“bisherige” frequency rank
#28,105
“bisheriger” frequency rank
33070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bisherige bisheriger
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs bisherig Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bisherig

Where the eye mixes bisherige and bisheriger

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

9 ch
bisherige
10 ch
bisheriger

Visual trap between bisherige and bisheriger

A purely visual mix-up. bisherige ([bɪsˈheːʁɪɡə]) and bisheriger ([bɪsˈheːʁɪɡɐ]) 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) - “bisherige” sits inside “bisheriger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bisherige is recorded at frequency rank #4,965, classified as anadj, pronounced [bɪsˈheːʁɪɡə]. bisheriger is at rank #28,105, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bɪsˈheːʁɪɡɐ].

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 33070, this pair ranks #1,693,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bisherige vs bisheriger

Shared letters: beghirs. Private to "bisherige": -. Private to "bisheriger": -.

"bisherige" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "bisheriger" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bisherige ← bbisherige · bihserige · bisehrige · bisheirge · bishergie · bisherieg · bisherigge · bisherrige
  • bisheriger ← bbisheriger · bihseriger · bisehriger · bisheirger · bishergier · bisheriegr · bisherigerr · bisherigger

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bisherige" for "bisheriger" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bɪsˈheːʁɪɡə] versus [bɪsˈheːʁɪɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bisherige" or "bisheriger" show up more?
"bisherige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,965 in our German list, against #28,105 for "bisheriger". 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 "bisherige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bisheriger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,693,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bisherige" and "bisheriger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bisheriger vs bisheriges". 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 #1,693,928 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