ehrlichenvsehrlicherWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,128
“ehrlichen” frequency rank
#16,394
“ehrlicher” frequency rank
32522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ehrlichen ehrlicher
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ehrlich Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ehrlich

Where the eye mixes ehrlichen and ehrlicher

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

9 ch
ehrlichen
9 ch
ehrlicher

Why the eye confuses ehrlichen with ehrlicher

A purely visual mix-up. ehrlichen ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩]) and ehrlicher ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪçɐ]) 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 “ehrlichen” becomes r in “ehrlicher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ehrlichen is recorded at frequency rank #16,128, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩]. ehrlicher is at rank #16,394, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçɐ].

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 32522, this pair ranks #1,705,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ehrlichen vs ehrlicher

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

"ehrlichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "ehrlicher" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ehrlichen ← ehhrlichen · ehlrichen · ehrilchen · ehrlcihen · ehrlicchen · ehrlicehn · ehrlichenn · ehrlichhen
  • ehrlicher ← ehhrlicher · ehlricher · ehrilcher · ehrlciher · ehrliccher · ehrlicehr · ehrlicherr · ehrlichher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ehrlichen" for "ehrlicher" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːɐ̯lɪçn̩] versus [ˈeːɐ̯lɪçɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ehrlichen" vs "ehrlicher" - which ranks higher?
"ehrlichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,128 in our German list, against #16,394 for "ehrlicher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrlichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ehrlicher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,705,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ehrlichen" and "ehrlicher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ehrlicher vs etlicher". 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 #1,705,796 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