chinesischervschinesischesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,951
“chinesischer” frequency rank
#25,494
“chinesisches” frequency rank
42445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chinesischer chinesisches
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs chinesisch Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs chinesisch

Where the eye mixes chinesischer and chinesisches

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

12 ch
chinesischer
12 ch
chinesisches

Visual trap between chinesischer and chinesisches

A purely visual mix-up. chinesischer ([çiˈneːzɪʃɐ]) and chinesisches ([çiˈneːzɪʃəs]) 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 - r in “chinesischer” becomes s in “chinesisches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chinesischer is recorded at frequency rank #16,951, classified as anadj, pronounced [çiˈneːzɪʃɐ]. chinesisches is at rank #25,494, tagged as anadj, pronounced [çiˈneːzɪʃəs].

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 42445, this pair ranks #1,449,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chinesischer vs chinesisches

Shared letters: cehins. Private to "chinesischer": r. Private to "chinesisches": -.

"chinesischer" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCCVC  ·  "chinesisches" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chinesischer ← cchinesischer · chhinesischer · chiensischer · chineisscher · chinesicsher · chinesisccher · chinesiscehr · chinesischerr
  • chinesisches ← cchinesisches · chhinesisches · chiensisches · chineissches · chinesicshes · chinesiscches · chinesiscehs · chinesischess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chinesischer" for "chinesisches" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([çiˈneːzɪʃɐ] versus [çiˈneːzɪʃəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "chinesischer" or "chinesisches" show up more?
"chinesischer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,951 in our German list, against #25,494 for "chinesisches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chinesischer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chinesisches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,449,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chinesischer" and "chinesisches" 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 #1,449,052 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