freiwilligevsfreiwilligenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,481
“freiwillige” frequency rank
#5,948
“freiwilligen” frequency rank
11429
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature freiwillige freiwilligen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs freiwillig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs freiwillig

Where the eye mixes freiwillige and freiwilligen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.

11 ch
freiwillige
12 ch
freiwilligen

Why the eye confuses freiwillige with freiwilligen

A purely visual mix-up. freiwillige ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡə]) and freiwilligen ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡn̩]) 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) - “freiwillige” sits inside “freiwilligen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

freiwillige is recorded at frequency rank #5,481, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡə]. freiwilligen is at rank #5,948, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡn̩].

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 11429, this pair ranks #1,969,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of freiwillige vs freiwilligen

Shared letters: efgilrw. Private to "freiwillige": -. Private to "freiwilligen": n.

"freiwillige" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVCV  ·  "freiwilligen" · 12 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freiwilligeferiwillige · ffreiwillige · freiiwllige · freiwilige · freiwililge · freiwillgie · freiwillieg · freiwilligge
  • freiwilligenferiwilligen · ffreiwilligen · freiiwlligen · freiwiligen · freiwililgen · freiwillgien · freiwilliegn · freiwilligenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "freiwillige" for "freiwilligen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡə] versus [ˈfʁaɪ̯ˌvɪlɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "freiwillige" or "freiwilligen"?
"freiwillige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,481 in our German list, against #5,948 for "freiwilligen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "freiwillige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "freiwilligen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "freiwillige" and "freiwilligen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "freiwilligen vs freiwilliges". 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 #1,969,905 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