GanservsganzenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,630
“Ganser” frequency rank
#366
“ganzen” frequency rank
44996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ganser ganzen
Definition männliche Gans Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ganz

Where the eye mixes Ganser and ganzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Ganser and ganzen 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
ganzen

Why the eye confuses Ganser with ganzen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ganser is [ˈɡanzɐ] while ganzen is [ˈɡant͡sn̩]. 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 44996, 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]. ganzen is at rank #366, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡant͡sn̩].

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 44996, this pair ranks #1,367,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ganser vs ganzen

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "Ganser": rs. Private to "ganzen": z.

"Ganser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "ganzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ganser ← agnser · ganesr · gannser · ganserr · gansre · gansser · gasner · gganser
  • ganzen ← agnzen · ganezn · gannzen · ganzenn · ganzne · ganzzen · gaznen · gganzen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ganser" and "ganzen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ganser" is a noun and "ganzen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ganser" or "ganzen"?
"ganzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #366 in our German list, against #44,630 for "Ganser". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ganser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ganzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,367,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ganser" and "ganzen" 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 #1,367,900 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