FotografievsFotografienConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,587
“Fotografie” frequency rank
#11,871
“Fotografien” frequency rank
17458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fotografie Fotografien
Definition technisches Verfahren, bei dem mit Hilfe von optischen Verfahren ein Bild (Fotografie, Lichtbild) auf ein lichtempfindliches Medium produziert und dort dauerhaft gespeichert wird Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fotografie

Where the eye mixes Fotografie and Fotografien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Fotografie runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCVV) against Fotografien's 11 (CVCVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
Fotografie
11 ch
Fotografien

Look-alike desk: Fotografie vs Fotografien

A purely visual mix-up. Fotografie ([fotoɡʁaˈfiː]) and Fotografien ([fotoɡʁaˈfiːən]) 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) - “Fotografie” sits inside “Fotografien”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fotografie is recorded at frequency rank #5,587, classified as anoun, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiː]. Fotografien is at rank #11,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːən].

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 17458, this pair ranks #1,927,223 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fotografie vs Fotografien

Shared letters: aefgiort. Private to "Fotografie": -. Private to "Fotografien": n.

"Fotografie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV  ·  "Fotografien" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fotografie ← ffotografie · footgrafie · fotgorafie · fotogarfie · fotoggrafie · fotografei · fotograffie · fotograife
  • Fotografien ← ffotografien · footgrafien · fotgorafien · fotogarfien · fotoggrafien · fotografein · fotograffien · fotografienn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Fotografie" and "Fotografien" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fotoɡʁaˈfiː] versus [fotoɡʁaˈfiːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Fotografie" or "Fotografien"?
"Fotografie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,587 in our German list, against #11,871 for "Fotografien". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Fotografie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fotografien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,927,223 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fotografie" and "Fotografien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fotografien vs fotografiere". 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 #1,927,223 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