GewässervsGewässernWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,559
“Gewässer” frequency rank
#15,375
“Gewässern” frequency rank
24934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gewässer Gewässern
Definition ein von stehendem oder fließendem Wasser bedeckter Teil der Erdoberfläche Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gewässer

Where the eye mixes Gewässer and Gewässern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Gewässer runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against Gewässern's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Gewässer
9 ch
Gewässern

Why the eye confuses Gewässer with Gewässern

A purely visual mix-up. Gewässer ([ɡəˈvɛsɐ]) and Gewässern ([ɡəˈvɛsɐn]) 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) - “Gewässer” sits inside “Gewässern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gewässer is recorded at frequency rank #9,559, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛsɐ]. Gewässern is at rank #15,375, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛsɐn].

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 24934, this pair ranks #1,840,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gewässer vs Gewässern

Shared letters: egrswä. Private to "Gewässer": -. Private to "Gewässern": n.

"Gewässer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "Gewässern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gewässer" for "Gewässern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvɛsɐ] versus [ɡəˈvɛsɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Gewässer" or "Gewässern" show up more?
"Gewässer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,559 in our German list, against #15,375 for "Gewässern". 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 "Gewässer" and "Gewässern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewässer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewässern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,840,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gewässer" and "Gewässern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gewänder vs Gewässer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,840,502 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