GewissensvsgewissesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#20,272
“Gewissens” frequency rank
#11,660
“gewisses” frequency rank
31932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gewissens gewisses
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Gewissen Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewiss

Where the eye mixes Gewissens and gewisses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
Gewissens
8 ch
gewisses

Why the eye confuses Gewissens with gewisses

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gewissens is [ɡəˈvɪsn̩s] while gewisses is [ɡəˈvɪsəs]. 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 31932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gewissens is recorded at frequency rank #20,272, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪsn̩s]. gewisses is at rank #11,660, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪsəs].

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 31932, this pair ranks #1,718,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gewissens vs gewisses

Shared letters: egisw. Private to "Gewissens": n. Private to "gewisses": -.

"Gewissens" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "gewisses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gewissensegwissens · geiwssens · gewisens · gewisesns · gewissenns · gewissenss · gewissesn · gewissnes
  • gewissesegwisses · geiwsses · gewisess · gewissess · gewissse · gewißes · gewsises · gewwisses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Gewissens" and "gewisses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gewissens" is a noun and "gewisses" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gewissens" or "gewisses" show up more?
"gewisses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,660 in our German list, against #20,272 for "Gewissens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Gewissens" and "gewisses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewissens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewisses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,718,149 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gewissens" and "gewisses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewiesen vs Gewissens". 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 #1,718,149 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