Which to use
“Person” and “Personen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #445
- “Person” frequency rank
- #508
- “Personen” frequency rank
- 953
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Person | Personen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Mensch | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Person |
Where the eye mixes Person and Personen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Person runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Personen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Person with Personen
A purely visual mix-up. Person ([pɛʁˈzoːn]) and Personen ([pɛʁˈzoːnən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Person” sits inside “Personen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Person is recorded at frequency rank #445, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɛʁˈzoːn]. Personen is at rank #508, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɛʁˈzoːnən].
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 953, this pair ranks #2,005,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Person vs Personen
Shared letters: enoprs. Private to "Person": -. Private to "Personen": -.
"Person" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Personen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Person" and "Personen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Person" or "Personen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Person" and "Personen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Person" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Personen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,005,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Person" and "Personen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "period vs Person". 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 #2,005,118 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.