internalvsinternesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,752
“internal” frequency rank
#33,131
“internes” frequency rank
79883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature internal internes
Definition innerlich, im Inneren befindlich Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs intern

Where the eye mixes internal and internes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
internal
8 ch
internes

Visual trap between internal and internes

A purely visual mix-up. internal ([ɪntɐˈnaːl]) and internes ([ɪnˈtɛʁnəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

internal is recorded at frequency rank #46,752, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɪntɐˈnaːl]. internes is at rank #33,131, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɪnˈtɛʁnəs].

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 79883, this pair ranks #207,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of internal vs internes

Shared letters: einrt. Private to "internal": al. Private to "internes": s.

"internal" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "internes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • internalinetrnal · innternal · intenral · interanl · internall · internla · internnal · interrnal
  • internesinetrnes · innternes · intenres · interens · interness · internnes · internse · interrnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "internal" for "internes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɪntɐˈnaːl] versus [ɪnˈtɛʁnəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "internal" vs "internes" - which ranks higher?
"internes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,131 in our German list, against #46,752 for "internal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "internal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "internes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "internal" and "internes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Interna vs internal". 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 #207,023 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