Which to use
“Selektion” is a noun and “selektive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,698
- “Selektion” frequency rank
- #31,788
- “selektive” frequency rank
- 50486
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Selektion | selektive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aussonderung einer Teilmenge nach bestimmten Kriterien | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs selektiv |
Where the eye mixes Selektion and selektive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Selektion (CVCVCCVVC) and selektive (CVCVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Selektion vs selektive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Selektion is [zelɛkˈt͡si̯oːn] while selektive is [zelɛkˈtiːvə]. 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 50486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Selektion is recorded at frequency rank #18,698, classified as anoun, pronounced [zelɛkˈt͡si̯oːn]. selektive is at rank #31,788, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zelɛkˈtiːvə].
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 50486, this pair ranks #1,171,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Selektion vs selektive
Shared letters: eiklst. Private to "Selektion": no. Private to "selektive": v.
"Selektion" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "selektive" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Selektion" for "selektive" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Selektion" vs "selektive" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Selektion" and "selektive" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Selektion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "selektive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,171,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Selektion" and "selektive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "selektiv vs selektive". 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 #1,171,918 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.