Which to use
“sympathisch” and “sympathische” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,137
- “sympathisch” frequency rank
- #20,426
- “sympathische” frequency rank
- 28563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sympathisch | sympathische |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zu Sympathien motivierend; charmant, nett | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch |
Where the eye mixes sympathisch and sympathische
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. sympathisch runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCVCCC) against sympathische's 12 (CVCCVCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sympathisch with sympathische
A purely visual mix-up. sympathisch ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ]) and sympathische ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “sympathisch” sits inside “sympathische”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sympathisch is recorded at frequency rank #8,137, classified as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ]. sympathische is at rank #20,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃə].
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 28563, this pair ranks #1,782,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sympathisch vs sympathische
Shared letters: achimpsty. Private to "sympathisch": -. Private to "sympathische": e.
"sympathisch" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCC · "sympathische" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sympathisch ← smypathisch · ssympathisch · symapthisch · symmpathisch · sympahtisch · sympathhisch · sympathicsh · sympathiscch
- sympathische ← smypathische · ssympathische · symapthische · symmpathische · sympahtische · sympathhische · sympathicshe · sympathiscche
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sympathisch" for "sympathische" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "sympathisch" or "sympathische" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sympathisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sympathische" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,782,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sympathisch" and "sympathische" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sympathische vs sympathischen". 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 #1,782,558 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.