GänsevsganzemWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Gänse is a noun, ganzem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gänse” is a noun and “ganzem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,160
“Gänse” frequency rank
#15,363
“ganzem” frequency rank
40523
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gänse ganzem
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Gans Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ganz

Where the eye mixes Gänse and ganzem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Gänse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against ganzem's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Gänse
6 ch
ganzem

Look-alike desk: Gänse vs ganzem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gänse is [ˈɡɛnzə] while ganzem is [ˈɡant͡sm̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gänse is recorded at frequency rank #25,160, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɛnzə]. ganzem is at rank #15,363, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡant͡sm̩].

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 40523, this pair ranks #1,505,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gänse vs ganzem

Shared letters: egn. Private to "Gänse": sä. Private to "ganzem": amz.

"Gänse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "ganzem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ganzem ← agnzem · ganezm · gannzem · ganzemm · ganzme · ganzzem · gaznem · gganzem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gänse" and "ganzem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gänse" is a noun and "ganzem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gänse" or "ganzem" show up more?
"ganzem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,363 in our German list, against #25,160 for "Gänse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gänse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ganzem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,505,987 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gänse" and "ganzem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gänse vs Gases". 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 #1,505,987 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