kritischvskritischemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,465
“kritisch” frequency rank
#47,545
“kritischem” frequency rank
51010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kritisch kritischem
Definition bedrohlich, entscheidend Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kritisch

Where the eye mixes kritisch and kritischem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. kritisch runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCC) against kritischem's 10 (CCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
kritisch
10 ch
kritischem

Why the eye confuses kritisch with kritischem

A purely visual mix-up. kritisch ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃ]) and kritischem ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃm̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “kritisch” sits inside “kritischem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kritisch is recorded at frequency rank #3,465, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʁiːtɪʃ]. kritischem is at rank #47,545, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʁiːtɪʃm̩].

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 51010, this pair ranks #1,151,955 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kritisch vs kritischem

Shared letters: chikrst. Private to "kritisch": -. Private to "kritischem": em.

"kritisch" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCC  ·  "kritischem" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kritischkirtisch · kkritisch · kriitsch · kriticsh · kritiscch · kritischh · kritishc · kritissch
  • kritischemkirtischem · kkritischem · kriitschem · kriticshem · kritiscchem · kritiscehm · kritischemm · kritischhem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kritisch" and "kritischem" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃ] versus [ˈkʁiːtɪʃm̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "kritisch" vs "kritischem" - which ranks higher?
"kritisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,465 in our German list, against #47,545 for "kritischem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kritisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kritischem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,151,955 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kritisch" and "kritischem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kritischem vs kritisches". 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 #1,151,955 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