demselbenvsdenselbenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,893
“demselben” frequency rank
#6,781
“denselben” frequency rank
14674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demselben denselben
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum des Demonstrativpronomens derselbe Akkusativ Singular des Demonstrativpronomens derselbe

Where the eye mixes demselben and denselben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. demselben and denselben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
demselben
9 ch
denselben

Visual trap between demselben and denselben

A purely visual mix-up. demselben ([deːmˈzɛlbn̩]) and denselben ([deːnˈzɛlbn̩]) 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 - m in “demselben” becomes n in “denselben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demselben is recorded at frequency rank #7,893, classified as anunknown, pronounced [deːmˈzɛlbn̩]. denselben is at rank #6,781, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [deːnˈzɛlbn̩].

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 14674, this pair ranks #1,949,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of demselben vs denselben

Shared letters: bdelns. Private to "demselben": m. Private to "denselben": -.

"demselben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "denselben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demselben ← ddemselben · demeslben · demmselben · demseblen · demselbben · demselbenn · demselbne · demselebn
  • denselben ← ddenselben · deneslben · dennselben · denseblen · denselbben · denselbenn · denselbne · denselebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "demselben" and "denselben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([deːmˈzɛlbn̩] versus [deːnˈzɛlbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "demselben" or "denselben"?
"denselben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,781 in our German list, against #7,893 for "demselben". 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 "demselben" and "denselben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "demselben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denselben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demselben" and "denselben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demselben vs derselbe". 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 #1,949,544 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