politischevspolitischerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#890
“politische” frequency rank
#3,613
“politischer” frequency rank
4503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature politische politischer
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs politisch Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs politisch

Where the eye mixes politische and politischer

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

10 ch
politische
11 ch
politischer

Look-alike desk: politische vs politischer

A purely visual mix-up. politische ([poˈliːtɪʃə]) and politischer ([poˈliːtɪʃɐ]) 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 “politischer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

politische is recorded at frequency rank #890, classified as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃə]. politischer is at rank #3,613, tagged as anadj, pronounced [poˈliːtɪʃɐ].

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 4503, this pair ranks #1,997,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of politische vs politischer

Shared letters: cehilopst. Private to "politische": -. Private to "politischer": r.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • politische ← oplitische · ploitische · poiltische · poliitsche · politicshe · politiscche · politisceh · politischhe
  • politischer ← oplitischer · ploitischer · poiltischer · poliitscher · politicsher · politisccher · politiscehr · politischerr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "politische" and "politischer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([poˈliːtɪʃə] versus [poˈliːtɪʃɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "politische" or "politischer" show up more?
"politische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #890 in our German list, against #3,613 for "politischer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "politische" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "politischer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "politische" and "politischer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poetische vs politische". 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 #1,997,535 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