nationalevsnationalesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,759
“nationale” frequency rank
#14,134
“nationales” frequency rank
17893
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nationale nationales
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs national Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs national

Where the eye mixes nationale and nationales

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

9 ch
nationale
10 ch
nationales

Look-alike desk: nationale vs nationales

A purely visual mix-up. nationale ([ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːlə]) and nationales ([ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːləs]) 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) - “nationale” sits inside “nationales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nationale is recorded at frequency rank #3,759, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːlə]. nationales is at rank #14,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːləs].

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 17893, this pair ranks #1,923,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nationale vs nationales

Shared letters: aeilnot. Private to "nationale": -. Private to "nationales": s.

"nationale" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCV  ·  "nationales" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nationale ← antionale · naitonale · natinoale · natioanle · nationael · nationalle · nationlae · nationnale
  • nationales ← antionales · naitonales · natinoales · natioanles · nationaels · nationaless · nationalles · nationalse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nationale" and "nationales" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːlə] versus [ˌnat͡si̯oˈnaːləs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "nationale" or "nationales" show up more?
"nationale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,759 in our German list, against #14,134 for "nationales". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nationale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nationales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nationale" and "nationales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nationales vs Nationalist". 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 #1,923,293 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