Which to use
“peinlicher” and “peinliches” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,232
- “peinlicher” frequency rank
- #49,947
- “peinliches” frequency rank
- 80179
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peinlicher | peinliches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs peinlich | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs peinlich |
Where the eye mixes peinlicher and peinliches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. peinlicher and peinliches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: peinlicher vs peinliches
A purely visual mix-up. peinlicher ([ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçɐ]) and peinliches ([ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçəs]) 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 - r in “peinlicher” becomes s in “peinliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peinlicher is recorded at frequency rank #30,232, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçɐ]. peinliches is at rank #49,947, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpaɪ̯nˌlɪçəs].
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 80179, this pair ranks #200,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peinlicher vs peinliches
Shared letters: cehilnp. Private to "peinlicher": r. Private to "peinliches": s.
"peinlicher" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC · "peinliches" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- peinlicher ← epinlicher · peilnicher · peinilcher · peinlciher · peinliccher · peinlicehr · peinlicherr · peinlichher
- peinliches ← epinliches · peilniches · peinilches · peinlcihes · peinlicches · peinlicehs · peinlichess · peinlichhes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "peinlicher" and "peinliches" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "peinlicher" or "peinliches" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "peinlicher" and "peinliches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peinlicher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "peinliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,879 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peinlicher" and "peinliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peinlichen vs peinliches". 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 #200,879 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.