schwerwiegendenvsschwerwiegenderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,048
“schwerwiegenden” frequency rank
#43,480
“schwerwiegender” frequency rank
70528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature schwerwiegenden schwerwiegender
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schwerwiegend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs schwerwiegend

Where the eye mixes schwerwiegenden and schwerwiegender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 14 letters in sequence. schwerwiegenden and schwerwiegender follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCCVCCVVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

15 ch
schwerwiegenden
15 ch
schwerwiegender

Why the eye confuses schwerwiegenden with schwerwiegender

A purely visual mix-up. schwerwiegenden ([ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dən]) 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 a single letter - n in “schwerwiegenden” becomes r in “schwerwiegender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

schwerwiegenden is recorded at frequency rank #27,048, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dən]. 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 70528, this pair ranks #443,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of schwerwiegenden vs schwerwiegender

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

"schwerwiegenden" · 15 letters · shape CCCCVCCVVCVCCVC  ·  "schwerwiegender" · 15 letters · shape CCCCVCCVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • schwerwiegenden ← cshwerwiegenden · scchwerwiegenden · schewrwiegenden · schhwerwiegenden · schweriwegenden · schwerrwiegenden · schwerweigenden · schwerwieegnden
  • schwerwiegender ← cshwerwiegender · scchwerwiegender · schewrwiegender · schhwerwiegender · schweriwegender · schwerrwiegender · schwerweigender · schwerwieegnder

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "schwerwiegenden" and "schwerwiegender" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dən] versus [ˈʃveːɐ̯ˌviːɡn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "schwerwiegenden" or "schwerwiegender" show up more?
"schwerwiegenden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,048 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "schwerwiegenden" 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 #443,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "schwerwiegenden" and "schwerwiegender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schwerwiegend 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 #443,629 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