kritischvskritischenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,465
“kritisch” frequency rank
#5,731
“kritischen” frequency rank
9196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kritisch kritischen
Definition bedrohlich, entscheidend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kritisch

Where the eye mixes kritisch and kritischen

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

8 ch
kritisch
10 ch
kritischen

Visual trap between kritisch and kritischen

A purely visual mix-up. kritisch ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃ]) and kritischen ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃn̩]) 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 “kritischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9196, 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]. kritischen is at rank #5,731, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʁiːtɪʃn̩].

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 9196, this pair ranks #1,981,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kritisch vs kritischen

Shared letters: chikrst. Private to "kritisch": -. Private to "kritischen": en.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kritisch ← kirtisch · kkritisch · kriitsch · kriticsh · kritiscch · kritischh · kritishc · kritissch
  • kritischen ← kirtischen · kkritischen · kriitschen · kriticshen · kritiscchen · kritiscehn · kritischenn · kritischhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "kritisch" and "kritischen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʁiːtɪʃ] versus [ˈkʁiːtɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "kritisch" or "kritischen" show up more?
"kritisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,465 in our German list, against #5,731 for "kritischen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kritisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kritischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kritisch" and "kritischen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "karibischen vs kritischen". 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 #1,981,024 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