KönigvsKönigsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#816
“König” frequency rank
#3,826
“Königs” frequency rank
4642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature König Königs
Definition höchster oder historisch hoher (nach dem Kaiser) monarchischer Würdenträger eines Staates, eines Königreiches; Namensbestandteil von Titelbezeichnungen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs König

Where the eye mixes König and Königs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. König runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Königs's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
König
6 ch
Königs

Visual trap between König and Königs

A purely visual mix-up. König ([ˈkøːnɪç]) and Königs ([ˈkøːnɪçs]) 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) - “König” sits inside “Königs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

König is recorded at frequency rank #816, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪç]. Königs is at rank #3,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪçs].

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 4642, this pair ranks #1,997,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of König vs Königs

Shared letters: giknö. Private to "König": -. Private to "Königs": s.

"König" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Königs" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "König" and "Königs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkøːnɪç] versus [ˈkøːnɪçs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "König" or "Königs" show up more?
"König" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #816 in our German list, against #3,826 for "Königs". 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 "König" and "Königs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "König" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Königs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "König" and "Königs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Knies vs Königs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,997,127 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