ÖsterreichervsÖsterreichernWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,789
“Österreicher” frequency rank
#30,410
“Österreichern” frequency rank
34199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Österreicher Österreichern
Definition Staatsbürger der Republik Österreich; Angehöriger des österreichischen Volkes Dativ Plural des Substantivs Österreicher

Where the eye mixes Österreicher and Österreichern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. Österreicher runs 12 letters (VCCVCCVVCCVC) against Österreichern's 13 (VCCVCCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
Österreicher
13 ch
Österreichern

Why the eye confuses Österreicher with Österreichern

A purely visual mix-up. Österreicher ([ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐ]) and Österreichern ([ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐn]) 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) - “Österreicher” sits inside “Österreichern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Österreicher is recorded at frequency rank #3,789, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐ]. Österreichern is at rank #30,410, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐn].

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 34199, this pair ranks #1,668,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Österreicher vs Österreichern

Shared letters: cehirstö. Private to "Österreicher": -. Private to "Österreichern": n.

"Österreicher" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCCVC  ·  "Österreichern" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Österreicher" for "Österreichern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐ] versus [ˈøːstəʁaɪ̯çɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Österreicher" or "Österreichern" show up more?
"Österreicher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,789 in our German list, against #30,410 for "Österreichern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Österreicher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Österreichern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,668,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Österreicher" and "Österreichern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Österreicherin vs Österreichern". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,668,836 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