gemeinevsgemeinesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,718
“gemeine” frequency rank
#47,434
“gemeines” frequency rank
60152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gemeine gemeines
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gemein Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gemein

Where the eye mixes gemeine and gemeines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gemeine
8 ch
gemeines

Visual trap between gemeine and gemeines

A purely visual mix-up. gemeine ([ɡəˈmaɪ̯nə]) and gemeines ([ɡəˈmaɪ̯nəs]) 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) - “gemeine” sits inside “gemeines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gemeine is recorded at frequency rank #12,718, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈmaɪ̯nə]. gemeines is at rank #47,434, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈmaɪ̯nəs].

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 60152, this pair ranks #797,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gemeine vs gemeines

Shared letters: egimn. Private to "gemeine": -. Private to "gemeines": s.

"gemeine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "gemeines" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gemeineegmeine · geemine · gemeien · gemeinne · gemenie · gemiene · gemmeine · ggemeine
  • gemeinesegmeines · geemines · gemeiens · gemeiness · gemeinnes · gemeinse · gemenies · gemienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gemeine" and "gemeines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈmaɪ̯nə] versus [ɡəˈmaɪ̯nəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gemeine" or "gemeines" show up more?
"gemeine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,718 in our German list, against #47,434 for "gemeines". 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 "gemeine" and "gemeines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gemeine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemeines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #797,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gemeine" and "gemeines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemeines vs gemeinten". 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 #797,573 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