chronischvschronischenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,534
“chronisch” frequency rank
#14,766
“chronischen” frequency rank
29300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chronisch chronischen
Definition langsam entstehend und lange dauernd Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs chronisch

Where the eye mixes chronisch and chronischen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. chronisch runs 9 letters (CCCVCVCCC) against chronischen's 11 (CCCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
chronisch
11 ch
chronischen

Why the eye confuses chronisch with chronischen

A purely visual mix-up. chronisch ([ˈkʁoːnɪʃ]) and chronischen ([ˈkʁoːnɪʃn̩]) 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) - “chronisch” sits inside “chronischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chronisch is recorded at frequency rank #14,534, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʁoːnɪʃ]. chronischen is at rank #14,766, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʁoːnɪʃn̩].

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 29300, this pair ranks #1,769,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chronisch vs chronischen

Shared letters: chinors. Private to "chronisch": -. Private to "chronischen": e.

"chronisch" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCVCCC  ·  "chronischen" · 11 letters · shape CCCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chronisch ← cchronisch · chhronisch · chornisch · chrnoisch · chroinsch · chronicsh · chroniscch · chronischh
  • chronischen ← cchronischen · chhronischen · chornischen · chrnoischen · chroinschen · chronicshen · chroniscchen · chroniscehn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chronisch" for "chronischen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʁoːnɪʃ] versus [ˈkʁoːnɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chronisch" vs "chronischen" - which ranks higher?
"chronisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,534 in our German list, against #14,766 for "chronischen". 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 "chronisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chronischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,769,392 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chronisch" and "chronischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chronischen vs Chronisten". 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 #1,769,392 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