OrganisationvsorganizationConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,427
“Organisation” frequency rank
#36,537
“organization” frequency rank
37964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Organisation organization
Definition das geordnete, strukturierte Zusammenspiel von Elementen und Faktoren als Gegensatz zum unbestimmten Chaos ein koordinierter Zusammenschluss von Menschen und Ressourcen, der einem bestimmten Zweck dient; (die) Organisation f

Where the eye mixes Organisation and organization

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. Organisation and organization follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

12 ch
Organisation
12 ch
organization

Visual trap between Organisation and organization

A purely visual mix-up. Organisation ([ˌɔʁɡanizaˈt͡si̯oːn]) and organization ([ˈɔː(ɹ).ɡən.aɪˌzeɪ.ʃən]) 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 - s in “Organisation” becomes z in “organization”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37964, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Organisation is recorded at frequency rank #1,427, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˌɔʁɡanizaˈt͡si̯oːn]. organization is at rank #36,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔː(ɹ).ɡən.aɪˌzeɪ.ʃən].

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 37964, this pair ranks #1,576,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Organisation vs organization

Shared letters: aginort. Private to "Organisation": s. Private to "organization": z.

"Organisation" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "organization" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Organisation ← ogranisation · oragnisation · orgainsation · organiastion · organisaiton · organisatino · organisationn · organisatoin
  • organization ← ogranization · oragnization · orgainzation · organiaztion · organizaiton · organizatino · organizationn · organizatoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Organisation" for "organization" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˌɔʁɡanizaˈt͡si̯oːn] versus [ˈɔː(ɹ).ɡən.aɪˌzeɪ.ʃən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Organisation" or "organization"?
"Organisation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,427 in our German list, against #36,537 for "organization". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Organisation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "organization" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,576,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Organisation" and "organization" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "organisations vs organization". 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 #1,576,448 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