politischvspolitischenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,080
“politisch” frequency rank
#938
“politischen” frequency rank
3018
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature politisch politischen
Definition die Politik betreffend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs politisch

Where the eye mixes politisch and politischen

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

9 ch
politisch
11 ch
politischen

Visual trap between politisch and politischen

A purely visual mix-up. politisch ([poˈliːtɪʃ]) and politischen ([poˈliːtɪʃn̩]) 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 “politischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3018, 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]. politischen is at rank #938, tagged as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃn̩].

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 3018, this pair ranks #2,001,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of politisch vs politischen

Shared letters: chilopst. Private to "politisch": -. Private to "politischen": en.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • politisch ← oplitisch · ploitisch · poiltisch · poliitsch · politicsh · politiscch · politischh · politishc
  • politischen ← oplitischen · ploitischen · poiltischen · poliitschen · politicshen · politiscchen · politiscehn · politischenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "politisch" for "politischen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poˈliːtɪʃ] versus [poˈliːtɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "politisch" vs "politischen" - which ranks higher?
"politischen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #938 in our German list, against #2,080 for "politisch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "politischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,001,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "politisch" and "politischen" 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 #2,001,128 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