seltsamenvsseltsamerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,381
“seltsamen” frequency rank
#22,889
“seltsamer” frequency rank
35270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seltsamen seltsamer
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs seltsam Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs seltsam

Where the eye mixes seltsamen and seltsamer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. seltsamen and seltsamer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
seltsamen
9 ch
seltsamer

Visual trap between seltsamen and seltsamer

A purely visual mix-up. seltsamen ([ˈzɛltzaːmən]) and seltsamer ([ˈzɛltzaːmɐ]) 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 “seltsamen” becomes r in “seltsamer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seltsamen is recorded at frequency rank #12,381, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltzaːmən]. seltsamer is at rank #22,889, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltzaːmɐ].

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 35270, this pair ranks #1,643,907 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seltsamen vs seltsamer

Shared letters: aelmst. Private to "seltsamen": n. Private to "seltsamer": r.

"seltsamen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "seltsamer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seltsamen ← esltsamen · selltsamen · selstamen · seltasmen · seltsaemn · seltsamenn · seltsammen · seltsamne
  • seltsamer ← esltsamer · selltsamer · selstamer · seltasmer · seltsaemr · seltsamerr · seltsammer · seltsamre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "seltsamen" for "seltsamer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛltzaːmən] versus [ˈzɛltzaːmɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "seltsamen" vs "seltsamer" - which ranks higher?
"seltsamen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,381 in our German list, against #22,889 for "seltsamer". 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 "seltsamen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seltsamer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,643,907 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seltsamen" and "seltsamer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seltsamer vs seltsames". 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 #1,643,907 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