politischvspolitischemWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,080
“politisch” frequency rank
#21,732
“politischem” frequency rank
23812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature politisch politischem
Definition die Politik betreffend Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs politisch

Where the eye mixes politisch and politischem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. politisch runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCC) against politischem's 11 (CVCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
politisch
11 ch
politischem

Visual trap between politisch and politischem

A purely visual mix-up. politisch ([poˈliːtɪʃ]) and politischem ([poˈliːtɪʃm̩]) 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) - “politisch” sits inside “politischem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

politisch is recorded at frequency rank #2,080, classified as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃ]. politischem is at rank #21,732, tagged as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃm̩].

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 23812, this pair ranks #1,856,307 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of politisch vs politischem

Shared letters: chilopst. Private to "politisch": -. Private to "politischem": em.

"politisch" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC  ·  "politischem" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • politisch ← oplitisch · ploitisch · poiltisch · poliitsch · politicsh · politiscch · politischh · politishc
  • politischem ← oplitischem · ploitischem · poiltischem · poliitschem · politicshem · politiscchem · politiscehm · politischemm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "politisch" for "politischem" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poˈliːtɪʃ] versus [poˈliːtɪʃm̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "politisch" vs "politischem" - which ranks higher?
"politisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,080 in our German list, against #21,732 for "politischem". 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 "politisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "politischem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,856,307 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "politisch" and "politischem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polemisch vs politisch". 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 #1,856,307 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