MitarbeitervsMitarbeiterinWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#735
“Mitarbeiter” frequency rank
#9,414
“Mitarbeiterin” frequency rank
10149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mitarbeiter Mitarbeiterin
Definition jemand, der zusammen mit anderen im gleichen Betrieb oder in der gleichen Institution arbeitet Arbeiterin oder Angestellte in einem Unternehmen oder einer Organisation

Where the eye mixes Mitarbeiter and Mitarbeiterin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. Mitarbeiter runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVVCVC) against Mitarbeiterin's 13 (CVCVCCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
Mitarbeiter
13 ch
Mitarbeiterin

Visual trap between Mitarbeiter and Mitarbeiterin

A purely visual mix-up. Mitarbeiter ([ˈmɪtʔaʁˌbaɪ̯tɐ]) and Mitarbeiterin ([ˈmɪtˌʔaʁbaɪ̯təʁɪn]) 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) - “Mitarbeiter” sits inside “Mitarbeiterin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mitarbeiter is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɪtʔaʁˌbaɪ̯tɐ]. Mitarbeiterin is at rank #9,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɪtˌʔaʁbaɪ̯təʁɪn].

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 10149, this pair ranks #1,976,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mitarbeiter vs Mitarbeiterin

Shared letters: abeimrt. Private to "Mitarbeiter": -. Private to "Mitarbeiterin": n.

"Mitarbeiter" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCVC  ·  "Mitarbeiterin" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mitarbeiter ← imtarbeiter · miatrbeiter · mitabreiter · mitarbbeiter · mitarbeietr · mitarbeiterr · mitarbeitre · mitarbeitter
  • Mitarbeiterin ← imtarbeiterin · miatrbeiterin · mitabreiterin · mitarbbeiterin · mitarbeietrin · mitarbeiteirn · mitarbeiterinn · mitarbeiterni

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mitarbeiter" and "Mitarbeiterin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɪtʔaʁˌbaɪ̯tɐ] versus [ˈmɪtˌʔaʁbaɪ̯təʁɪn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Mitarbeiter" or "Mitarbeiterin" show up more?
"Mitarbeiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #735 in our German list, against #9,414 for "Mitarbeiterin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mitarbeiter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mitarbeiterin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,976,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mitarbeiter" and "Mitarbeiterin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mitarbeiten vs Mitarbeiterin". 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 #1,976,557 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