selbigenvsselbigesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: selbigen is a unknown, selbiges is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“selbigen” is an unknown and “selbiges” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,361
“selbigen” frequency rank
#36,619
“selbiges” frequency rank
70980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature selbigen selbiges
Definition Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des Demonstrativpronomens selbig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Demonstrativpronomens selbig

Where the eye mixes selbigen and selbiges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. selbigen and selbiges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
selbigen
8 ch
selbiges

Visual trap between selbigen and selbiges

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: selbigen is [ˈzɛlbɪɡn̩] while selbiges is [ˈzɛlbɪɡəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “selbigen” becomes s in “selbiges”, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

selbigen is recorded at frequency rank #34,361, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈzɛlbɪɡn̩]. selbiges is at rank #36,619, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈzɛlbɪɡəs].

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 70980, this pair ranks #430,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of selbigen vs selbiges

Shared letters: begils. Private to "selbigen": n. Private to "selbiges": -.

"selbigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "selbiges" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • selbigen ← eslbigen · sebligen · selbbigen · selbgien · selbiegn · selbigenn · selbiggen · selbigne
  • selbiges ← eslbiges · sebliges · selbbiges · selbgies · selbiegs · selbigess · selbigges · selbigse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "selbigen" and "selbiges" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "selbigen" is an unknown and "selbiges" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "selbigen" or "selbiges"?
"selbigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,361 in our German list, against #36,619 for "selbiges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "selbigen" and "selbiges" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "selbigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "selbiges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "selbigen" and "selbiges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "selbiges vs seliger". 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 #430,122 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