relationvsRelationenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,510
“relation” frequency rank
#38,367
“Relationen” frequency rank
49877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature relation Relationen
Definition Beziehung, Verhältnis Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Relation

Where the eye mixes relation and Relationen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
relation
10 ch
Relationen

Visual trap between relation and Relationen

A purely visual mix-up. relation ([ʁə.la.sjɔ̃]) and Relationen ([ʁelaˈt͡si̯oːnən]) 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) - “relation” sits inside “Relationen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

relation is recorded at frequency rank #11,510, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁə.la.sjɔ̃]. Relationen is at rank #38,367, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁelaˈt͡si̯oːnən].

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 49877, this pair ranks #1,194,992 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of relation vs Relationen

Shared letters: aeilnort. Private to "relation": -. Private to "Relationen": -.

"relation" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "Relationen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • relationerlation · realtion · relaiton · relatino · relationn · relatoin · relattion · rellation
  • Relationenerlationen · realtionen · relaitonen · relatinoen · relatioenn · relationenn · relationne · relationnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "relation" and "Relationen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁə.la.sjɔ̃] versus [ʁelaˈt͡si̯oːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "relation" or "Relationen" show up more?
"relation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,510 in our German list, against #38,367 for "Relationen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "relation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Relationen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,194,992 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "relation" and "Relationen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Relationen vs relativen". 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 #1,194,992 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