PhrasevsPhrasenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,729
“Phrase” frequency rank
#18,021
“Phrasen” frequency rank
39750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Phrase Phrasen
Definition syntaktisch zusammengehörige Wortgruppe (Konstituente) Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Phrase

Where the eye mixes Phrase and Phrasen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Phrase
7 ch
Phrasen

Look-alike desk: Phrase vs Phrasen

A purely visual mix-up. Phrase ([ˈfʁaːzə]) and Phrasen ([ˈfʁaːzn̩]) 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) - “Phrase” sits inside “Phrasen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Phrase is recorded at frequency rank #21,729, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁaːzə]. Phrasen is at rank #18,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʁaːzn̩].

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 39750, this pair ranks #1,527,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Phrase vs Phrasen

Shared letters: aehprs. Private to "Phrase": -. Private to "Phrasen": n.

"Phrase" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "Phrasen" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Phrasehprase · pharse · phhrase · phraes · phrasse · phrrase · phrsae · pphrase
  • Phrasenhprasen · pharsen · phhrasen · phraesn · phrasenn · phrasne · phrassen · phrrasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Phrase" and "Phrasen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfʁaːzə] versus [ˈfʁaːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Phrase" or "Phrasen" show up more?
"Phrasen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,021 in our German list, against #21,729 for "Phrase". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Phrase" and "Phrasen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Phrase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Phrasen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,527,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Phrase" and "Phrasen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Phrasen vs Präsens". 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 #1,527,989 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