politischevspolitischemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#890
“politische” frequency rank
#21,732
“politischem” frequency rank
22622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature politische politischem
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs politisch Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs politisch

Where the eye mixes politische and politischem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. politische runs 10 letters (CVCVCVCCCV) against politischem's 11 (CVCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
politische
11 ch
politischem

Why the eye confuses politische with politischem

A purely visual mix-up. politische ([poˈliːtɪʃə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “politische” sits inside “politischem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

politische is recorded at frequency rank #890, classified as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃə]. 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 22622, this pair ranks #1,871,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of politische vs politischem

Shared letters: cehilopst. Private to "politische": -. Private to "politischem": m.

"politische" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCCV  ·  "politischem" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • politische ← oplitische · ploitische · poiltische · poliitsche · politicshe · politiscche · politisceh · politischhe
  • politischem ← oplitischem · ploitischem · poiltischem · poliitschem · politicshem · politiscchem · politiscehm · politischemm

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "politische" and "politischem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([poˈliːtɪʃə] versus [poˈliːtɪʃm̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "politische" or "politischem"?
"politische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #890 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "politische" 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 #1,871,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "politische" and "politischem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "politischem vs politisches". 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 #1,871,894 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