Which to use
“empirische” and “empirischen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,130
- “empirische” frequency rank
- #23,909
- “empirischen” frequency rank
- 40039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empirische | empirischen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs empirisch | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs empirisch |
Where the eye mixes empirische and empirischen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. empirische runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCCCV) against empirischen's 11 (VCCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between empirische and empirischen
A purely visual mix-up. empirische ([ɛmˈpiːʁɪʃə]) and empirischen ([ɛmˈpiːʁɪʃn̩]) 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) - “empirische” sits inside “empirischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empirische is recorded at frequency rank #16,130, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛmˈpiːʁɪʃə]. empirischen is at rank #23,909, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛmˈpiːʁɪʃn̩].
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 40039, this pair ranks #1,519,737 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of empirische vs empirischen
Shared letters: cehimprs. Private to "empirische": -. Private to "empirischen": n.
"empirische" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCV · "empirischen" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- empirische ← emiprische · emmpirische · empiirsche · empiricshe · empiriscche · empirisceh · empirischhe · empirishce
- empirischen ← emiprischen · emmpirischen · empiirschen · empiricshen · empiriscchen · empiriscehn · empirischenn · empirischhen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "empirische" for "empirischen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "empirische" vs "empirischen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "empirische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empirischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,519,737 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empirische" and "empirischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empirisch vs empirischen". 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 #1,519,737 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.