NiederländischvsNiederländischeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,500
“Niederländisch” frequency rank
#11,104
“Niederländische” frequency rank
27604
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Niederländisch Niederländische
Definition die in den niederen Landen (Niederlanden und Flandern) gesprochene westgermanisch-niederfränkische Standardsprache Nominativ Singular des Substantivs Niederländisch

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Niederländisch and Niederländische apart are highlighted. They share 14 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

14 ch
Niederländisch
15 ch
Niederländische

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Niederländisch ([ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃ]) and Niederländische ([ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃə]) 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) - “Niederländisch” sits inside “Niederländische”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Niederländisch is recorded at frequency rank #16,500, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃ]. Niederländische is at rank #11,104, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃə].

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 27604, this pair ranks #1,799,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Niederländisch vs Niederländische

Shared letters: cdehilnrsä. Private to "Niederländisch": -. Private to "Niederländische": -.

"Niederländisch" · 14 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCCVCCC  ·  "Niederländische" · 15 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCCVCCCV

Frequency comparison

Niederländisch#16,500
Niederländische#11,104

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Niederländisch" and "Niederländische" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃ] versus [ˈniːdɐˌlɛndɪʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Niederländisch" or "Niederländische"?
"Niederländische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,104 in our German list, against #16,500 for "Niederländisch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Niederländisch vs Niederländische

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list