bürgerlichenvsbürgerlichesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,904
“bürgerlichen” frequency rank
#32,981
“bürgerliches” frequency rank
39885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bürgerlichen bürgerliches
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bürgerlich Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bürgerlich

Where the eye mixes bürgerlichen and bürgerliches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. bürgerlichen and bürgerliches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

12 ch
bürgerlichen
12 ch
bürgerliches

Look-alike desk: bürgerlichen vs bürgerliches

A purely visual mix-up. bürgerlichen ([ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçn̩]) 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 a single letter - n in “bürgerlichen” becomes s in “bürgerliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bürgerlichen is recorded at frequency rank #6,904, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçn̩]. 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 39885, this pair ranks #1,524,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bürgerlichen vs bürgerliches

Shared letters: bceghilrü. Private to "bürgerlichen": n. Private to "bürgerliches": s.

"bürgerlichen" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC  ·  "bürgerliches" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bürgerlichen" for "bürgerliches" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçn̩] versus [ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bürgerlichen" or "bürgerliches"?
"bürgerlichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,904 in our German list, against #32,981 for "bürgerliches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bürgerlichen" 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 #1,524,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bürgerlichen" and "bürgerliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bürgerlicher vs bürgerliches". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,524,118 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