schwerwiegendvsschwerwiegenderWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,456
“schwerwiegend” frequency rank
#43,480
“schwerwiegender” frequency rank
84936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schwerwiegend schwerwiegender
Definition mit weitreichenden, meist negativen Auswirkungen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schwerwiegend

Where the eye mixes schwerwiegend and schwerwiegender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 13 letters in sequence. schwerwiegend runs 13 letters (CCCCVCCVVCVCC) against schwerwiegender's 15 (CCCCVCCVVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

13 ch
schwerwiegend
15 ch
schwerwiegender

Visual trap between schwerwiegend and schwerwiegender

A purely visual mix-up. schwerwiegend ([ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩t]) and schwerwiegender ([ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dɐ]) 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) - “schwerwiegend” sits inside “schwerwiegender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schwerwiegend is recorded at frequency rank #41,456, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩t]. schwerwiegender is at rank #43,480, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dɐ].

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 84936, this pair ranks #115,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of schwerwiegend vs schwerwiegender

Shared letters: cdeghinrsw. Private to "schwerwiegend": -. Private to "schwerwiegender": -.

"schwerwiegend" · 13 letters · shape CCCCVCCVVCVCC  ·  "schwerwiegender" · 15 letters · shape CCCCVCCVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schwerwiegend ← cshwerwiegend · scchwerwiegend · schewrwiegend · schhwerwiegend · schweriwegend · schwerrwiegend · schwerweigend · schwerwieegnd
  • schwerwiegender ← cshwerwiegender · scchwerwiegender · schewrwiegender · schhwerwiegender · schweriwegender · schwerrwiegender · schwerweigender · schwerwieegnder

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schwerwiegend" and "schwerwiegender" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩t] versus [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "schwerwiegend" vs "schwerwiegender" - which ranks higher?
"schwerwiegend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,456 in our German list, against #43,480 for "schwerwiegender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "schwerwiegend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "schwerwiegender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schwerwiegend" and "schwerwiegender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwerwiegenden vs schwerwiegender". 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 #115,920 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