ReisendevsreizendeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Reisende is a noun, reizende is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Reisende” is a noun and “reizende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,615
“Reisende” frequency rank
#34,882
“reizende” frequency rank
43497
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reisende reizende
Definition weibliche Person, die eine Reise unternimmt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs reizend

Where the eye mixes Reisende and reizende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Reisende and reizende follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Reisende
8 ch
reizende

Visual trap between Reisende and reizende

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reisende is [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩də] while reizende is [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “Reisende” becomes z in “reizende”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reisende is recorded at frequency rank #8,615, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩də]. reizende is at rank #34,882, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩də].

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 43497, this pair ranks #1,416,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Reisende vs reizende

Shared letters: deinr. Private to "Reisende": s. Private to "reizende": z.

"Reisende" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV  ·  "reizende" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reisende ← erisende · reiesnde · reisedne · reisendde · reisened · reisennde · reisnede · reissende
  • reizende ← erizende · reieznde · reizedne · reizendde · reizened · reizennde · reiznede · reizzende

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Reisende" and "reizende" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reisende" is a noun and "reizende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Reisende" vs "reizende" - which ranks higher?
"Reisende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,615 in our German list, against #34,882 for "reizende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Reisende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reizende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,416,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reisende" and "reizende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reizende vs reizenden". 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 #1,416,201 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