künstlichvskünstlicheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,237
“künstlich” frequency rank
#6,824
“künstliche” frequency rank
15061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature künstlich künstliche
Definition nicht natürlich, sondern technisch nach Vorbildern aus der Natur nachgebildet Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs künstlich

Where the eye mixes künstlich and künstliche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. künstlich runs 9 letters (CVCCCCVCC) against künstliche's 10 (CVCCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
künstlich
10 ch
künstliche

Visual trap between künstlich and künstliche

A purely visual mix-up. künstlich ([ˈkʏnstlɪç]) and künstliche ([ˈkʏnstlɪçə]) 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) - “künstlich” sits inside “künstliche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

künstlich is recorded at frequency rank #8,237, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏnstlɪç]. künstliche is at rank #6,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏnstlɪçə].

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 15061, this pair ranks #1,946,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of künstlich vs künstliche

Shared letters: chiklnstü. Private to "künstlich": -. Private to "künstliche": e.

"künstlich" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVCC  ·  "künstliche" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "künstlich" for "künstliche" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʏnstlɪç] versus [ˈkʏnstlɪçə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "künstlich" or "künstliche" show up more?
"künstliche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,824 in our German list, against #8,237 for "künstlich". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "künstlich" and "künstliche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "künstlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "künstliche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,685 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "künstlich" and "künstliche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "künstlich vs künstliches". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,946,685 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