ehemaligenvsehemaligesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,589
“ehemaligen” frequency rank
#24,682
“ehemaliges” frequency rank
26271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ehemaligen ehemaliges
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ehemalig Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ehemalig

Where the eye mixes ehemaligen and ehemaliges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
ehemaligen
10 ch
ehemaliges

Why the eye confuses ehemaligen with ehemaliges

A purely visual mix-up. ehemaligen ([ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡn̩]) and ehemaliges ([ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡəs]) 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 - n in “ehemaligen” becomes s in “ehemaliges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ehemaligen is recorded at frequency rank #1,589, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡn̩]. ehemaliges is at rank #24,682, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡəs].

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 26271, this pair ranks #1,820,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ehemaligen vs ehemaliges

Shared letters: aeghilm. Private to "ehemaligen": n. Private to "ehemaliges": s.

"ehemaligen" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVC  ·  "ehemaliges" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ehemaligeneehmaligen · eheamligen · ehemailgen · ehemalgien · ehemaliegn · ehemaligenn · ehemaliggen · ehemaligne
  • ehemaligeseehmaliges · eheamliges · ehemailges · ehemalgies · ehemaliegs · ehemaligess · ehemaligges · ehemaligse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ehemaligen" and "ehemaliges" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡn̩] versus [ˈeːəˌmaːlɪɡəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ehemaligen" vs "ehemaliges" - which ranks higher?
"ehemaligen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,589 in our German list, against #24,682 for "ehemaliges". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ehemaligen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ehemaliges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,820,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ehemaligen" and "ehemaliges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ehemaliges vs einmaliges". 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 #1,820,632 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