ReisendervsreizendeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#30,738
“Reisender” frequency rank
#34,882
“reizende” frequency rank
65620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reisender reizende
Definition (männliche) Person, die eine Reise unternimmt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs reizend

Where the eye mixes Reisender and reizende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Reisender runs 9 letters (CVVCVCCVC) against reizende's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Reisender
8 ch
reizende

Visual trap between Reisender and reizende

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reisender is [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩dɐ] while reizende is [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reisender is recorded at frequency rank #30,738, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩dɐ]. 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 65620, this pair ranks #600,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Reisender vs reizende

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

"Reisender" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC  ·  "reizende" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reisender ← erisender · reiesnder · reisedner · reisendder · reisenderr · reisendre · reisenedr · reisennder
  • reizende ← erizende · reieznde · reizedne · reizendde · reizened · reizennde · reiznede · reizzende

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Reisender" and "reizende" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reisender" is a noun and "reizende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Reisender" or "reizende"?
"Reisender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,738 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.

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 "Reisender" 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 #600,609 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reisender" 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 #600,609 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