GanservsganzemWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,630
“Ganser” frequency rank
#15,363
“ganzem” frequency rank
59993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ganser ganzem
Definition männliche Gans Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ganz

Where the eye mixes Ganser and ganzem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Ganser and ganzem follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Ganser
6 ch
ganzem

Look-alike desk: Ganser vs ganzem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ganser is [ˈɡanzɐ] while ganzem is [ˈɡant͡sm̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ganser is recorded at frequency rank #44,630, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡanzɐ]. 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 59993, this pair ranks #803,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ganser vs ganzem

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "Ganser": rs. Private to "ganzem": mz.

"Ganser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "ganzem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ganser ← agnser · ganesr · gannser · ganserr · gansre · gansser · gasner · gganser
  • ganzem ← agnzem · ganezm · gannzem · ganzemm · ganzme · ganzzem · gaznem · gganzem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ganser" and "ganzem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ganser" is a noun and "ganzem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ganser" or "ganzem"?
"ganzem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,363 in our German list, against #44,630 for "Ganser". 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 "Ganser" 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 #803,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ganser" and "ganzem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ganser 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 #803,604 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