ChinesischvsChinesischeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,060
“Chinesisch” frequency rank
#4,779
“Chinesische” frequency rank
14839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Chinesisch Chinesische
Definition Sprache in China, Sammelbegriff für die von Chinesen gesprochenen Sprachen und Dialekte (Hochchinesisch, Wu, Kantonesisch, Min Nan, Jinyu, Xiang, Hakka, Gan) Nominativ Singular des Substantivs Chinesisch

Where the eye mixes Chinesisch and Chinesische

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Chinesisch runs 10 letters (CCVCVCVCCC) against Chinesische's 11 (CCVCVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
Chinesisch
11 ch
Chinesische

Visual trap between Chinesisch and Chinesische

A purely visual mix-up. Chinesisch ([çiˈneːzɪʃ]) and Chinesische ([çiˈneːzɪʃə]) 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) - “Chinesisch” sits inside “Chinesische”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Chinesisch is recorded at frequency rank #10,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [çiˈneːzɪʃ]. Chinesische is at rank #4,779, tagged as anoun, pronounced [çiˈneːzɪʃə].

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 14839, this pair ranks #1,948,342 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Chinesisch vs Chinesische

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "Chinesisch": -. Private to "Chinesische": -.

"Chinesisch" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCC  ·  "Chinesische" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Chinesisch ← cchinesisch · chhinesisch · chiensisch · chineissch · chinesicsh · chinesiscch · chinesischh · chinesishc
  • Chinesische ← cchinesische · chhinesische · chiensische · chineissche · chinesicshe · chinesiscche · chinesisceh · chinesischhe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Chinesisch" for "Chinesische" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([çiˈneːzɪʃ] versus [çiˈneːzɪʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Chinesisch" or "Chinesische"?
"Chinesische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,779 in our German list, against #10,060 for "Chinesisch". 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 "Chinesisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Chinesische" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,342 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Chinesisch" and "Chinesische" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chinesisch vs chinesisches". 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 #1,948,342 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