möglichenvsmöglichesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,075
“möglichen” frequency rank
#21,706
“mögliches” frequency rank
23781
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature möglichen mögliches
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum und Neutrum, Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs möglich

Where the eye mixes möglichen and mögliches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. möglichen and mögliches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
möglichen
9 ch
mögliches

Visual trap between möglichen and mögliches

A purely visual mix-up. möglichen ([ˈmøːklɪçn̩]) and mögliches ([ˈmøːklɪçəs]) 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 a single letter - n in “möglichen” becomes s in “mögliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

möglichen is recorded at frequency rank #2,075, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmøːklɪçn̩]. mögliches is at rank #21,706, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmøːklɪçəs].

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 23781, this pair ranks #1,856,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of möglichen vs mögliches

Shared letters: ceghilmö. Private to "möglichen": n. Private to "mögliches": s.

"möglichen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "mögliches" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "möglichen" for "mögliches" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmøːklɪçn̩] versus [ˈmøːklɪçəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "möglichen" vs "mögliches" - which ranks higher?
"möglichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,075 in our German list, against #21,706 for "mögliches". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "möglichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mögliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,856,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "möglichen" and "mögliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "möglicher vs mögliches". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,856,675 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