ehrlichvsehrlichenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,072
“ehrlich” frequency rank
#16,128
“ehrlichen” frequency rank
17200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ehrlich ehrlichen
Definition der Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit entsprechend, nicht gelogen oder vorgetäuscht; wahr Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ehrlich

Where the eye mixes ehrlich and ehrlichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ehrlich
9 ch
ehrlichen

Why the eye confuses ehrlich with ehrlichen

A purely visual mix-up. ehrlich ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪç]) and ehrlichen ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩]) 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) - “ehrlich” sits inside “ehrlichen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ehrlich is recorded at frequency rank #1,072, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪç]. ehrlichen is at rank #16,128, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩].

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 17200, this pair ranks #1,929,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ehrlich vs ehrlichen

Shared letters: cehilr. Private to "ehrlich": -. Private to "ehrlichen": n.

"ehrlich" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC  ·  "ehrlichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ehrlichehhrlich · ehlrich · ehrilch · ehrlcih · ehrlicch · ehrlichh · ehrlihc · ehrllich
  • ehrlichenehhrlichen · ehlrichen · ehrilchen · ehrlcihen · ehrlicchen · ehrlicehn · ehrlichenn · ehrlichhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ehrlich" and "ehrlichen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪç] versus [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ehrlich" or "ehrlichen" show up more?
"ehrlich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,072 in our German list, against #16,128 for "ehrlichen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ehrlich" and "ehrlichen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrlichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929,484 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ehrlich" and "ehrlichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ehrlichen vs endlichen". 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 #1,929,484 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