Which to use
“dieselbe” and “dieselben” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,258
- “dieselbe” frequency rank
- #6,648
- “dieselben” frequency rank
- 10906
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dieselbe | dieselben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum des Pronomens derselbe | Nominativ Plural des Demonstrativpronomens derselbe |
Where the eye mixes dieselbe and dieselben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dieselbe runs 8 letters (CVVCVCCV) against dieselben's 9 (CVVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dieselbe with dieselben
A purely visual mix-up. dieselbe ([diːˈzɛlbə]) and dieselben ([diːˈzɛlbn̩]) 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) - “dieselbe” sits inside “dieselben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dieselbe is recorded at frequency rank #4,258, classified as anunknown, pronounced [diːˈzɛlbə]. dieselben is at rank #6,648, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [diːˈzɛlbn̩].
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 10906, this pair ranks #1,972,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dieselbe vs dieselben
Shared letters: bdeils. Private to "dieselbe": -. Private to "dieselben": n.
"dieselbe" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV · "dieselben" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dieselbe" and "dieselben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dieselbe" or "dieselben" show up more?
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 "dieselbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dieselben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,972,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dieselbe" and "dieselben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demselben vs dieselben". 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 #1,972,700 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.