Which to use
“bürgerlich” and “bürgerliches” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,245
- “bürgerlich” frequency rank
- #32,981
- “bürgerliches” frequency rank
- 50226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bürgerlich | bürgerliches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | auf die Staatsbürger oder die Bürger eines Gemeinwesens bezogen | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bürgerlich |
Where the eye mixes bürgerlich and bürgerliches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. bürgerlich runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against bürgerliches's 12 (CVCCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses bürgerlich with bürgerliches
A purely visual mix-up. bürgerlich ([ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪç]) and bürgerliches ([ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçəs]) 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) - “bürgerlich” sits inside “bürgerliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bürgerlich is recorded at frequency rank #17,245, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪç]. bürgerliches is at rank #32,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçəs].
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 50226, this pair ranks #1,181,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bürgerlich vs bürgerliches
Shared letters: bceghilrü. Private to "bürgerlich": -. Private to "bürgerliches": s.
"bürgerlich" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "bürgerliches" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bürgerlich" and "bürgerliches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bürgerlich" or "bürgerliches"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bürgerlich" and "bürgerliches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bürgerlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bürgerliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,181,745 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bürgerlich" and "bürgerliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bürgerlicher vs bürgerliches". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,181,745 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.