ReligionvsreligiösWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,676
“Religion” frequency rank
#11,317
“religiös” frequency rank
12993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Religion religiös
Definition kodifizierte und/oder auf Überlieferung beruhende Kult-/Glaubenspraxis und -auslegung die Religion betreffend

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Religion and religiös apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
Religion
8 ch
religiös

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Religion is [ʁeliˈɡi̯oːn] while religiös is [ʁeliˈɡi̯øːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Religion is recorded at frequency rank #1,676, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁeliˈɡi̯oːn]. religiös is at rank #11,317, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʁeliˈɡi̯øːs].

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 12993, this pair ranks #1,960,774 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Religion vs religiös

Shared letters: egilr. Private to "Religion": no. Private to "religiös": .

"Religion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "religiös" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Religionerligion · reilgion · relgiion · religgion · religino · religionn · religoin · reliigon

Frequency comparison

Religion#1,676
religiös#11,317

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Religion" and "religiös" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Religion" is a noun and "religiös" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Religion" or "religiös"?
"Religion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,676 in our German list, against #11,317 for "religiös". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Religion vs religiös

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Religion”; for an adjective, it's “religiös”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Religion” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list