herrlichervsherrlichesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,948
“herrlicher” frequency rank
#25,591
“herrliches” frequency rank
45539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature herrlicher herrliches
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herrlich Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herrlich

Where the eye mixes herrlicher and herrliches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. herrlicher and herrliches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
herrlicher
10 ch
herrliches

Why the eye confuses herrlicher with herrliches

A purely visual mix-up. herrlicher ([ˈhɛʁlɪçɐ]) and herrliches ([ˈhɛʁlɪçəs]) 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 a single letter - r in “herrlicher” becomes s in “herrliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

herrlicher is recorded at frequency rank #19,948, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁlɪçɐ]. herrliches is at rank #25,591, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁlɪçəs].

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 45539, this pair ranks #1,349,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of herrlicher vs herrliches

Shared letters: cehilr. Private to "herrlicher": -. Private to "herrliches": s.

"herrlicher" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "herrliches" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • herrlicher ← herlricher · herrilcher · herrlciher · herrliccher · herrlicehr · herrlicherr · herrlichher · herrlichre
  • herrliches ← ehrrliches · herliches · herlriches · herrilches · herrlcihes · herrlicches · herrlicehs · herrlichess

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "herrlicher" and "herrliches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛʁlɪçɐ] versus [ˈhɛʁlɪçəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "herrlicher" or "herrliches" show up more?
"herrlicher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,948 in our German list, against #25,591 for "herrliches". 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 "herrlicher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "herrliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,349,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "herrlicher" and "herrliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "herrlichem vs herrliches". 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 #1,349,599 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