kriminellenvsKriminellerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kriminellen is a adjective, Krimineller is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#7,954
“kriminellen” frequency rank
#17,059
“Krimineller” frequency rank
25013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kriminellen Krimineller
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kriminell nach Recht und Gesetz allfällig, straffällige Person, Verbrecher; auch ohne Amtshandlung und polizeilicher Erkennung

Where the eye mixes kriminellen and Krimineller

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. kriminellen and Krimineller follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
kriminellen
11 ch
Krimineller

Visual trap between kriminellen and Krimineller

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kriminellen is [kʁimiˈnɛlən] while Krimineller is [kʁimiˈnɛlɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “kriminellen” becomes r in “Krimineller”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kriminellen is recorded at frequency rank #7,954, classified as anadj, pronounced [kʁimiˈnɛlən]. Krimineller is at rank #17,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁimiˈnɛlɐ].

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 25013, this pair ranks #1,839,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kriminellen vs Krimineller

Shared letters: eiklmnr. Private to "kriminellen": -. Private to "Krimineller": -.

"kriminellen" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCVC  ·  "Krimineller" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kriminellenkirminellen · kkriminellen · kriimnellen · krimienllen · krimineleln · kriminelen · kriminellenn · kriminellne
  • Kriminellerkirmineller · kkrimineller · kriimneller · krimienller · kriminelelr · krimineler · kriminellerr · kriminellre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kriminellen" and "Krimineller" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kriminellen" is an adjective and "Krimineller" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "kriminellen" or "Krimineller"?
"kriminellen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,954 in our German list, against #17,059 for "Krimineller". 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 "kriminellen" and "Krimineller" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kriminellen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Krimineller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,839,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kriminellen" and "Krimineller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Krimineller vs kriminelles". 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 #1,839,380 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