sympathischvssympathischenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,137
“sympathisch” frequency rank
#22,527
“sympathischen” frequency rank
30664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sympathisch sympathischen
Definition zu Sympathien motivierend; charmant, nett Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch

Where the eye mixes sympathisch and sympathischen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. sympathisch runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCVCCC) against sympathischen's 13 (CVCCVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
sympathisch
13 ch
sympathischen

Look-alike desk: sympathisch vs sympathischen

A purely visual mix-up. sympathisch ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ]) and sympathischen ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “sympathisch” sits inside “sympathischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30664, 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]. sympathischen is at rank #22,527, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩].

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 30664, this pair ranks #1,743,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sympathisch vs sympathischen

Shared letters: achimpsty. Private to "sympathisch": -. Private to "sympathischen": en.

"sympathisch" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCC  ·  "sympathischen" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sympathisch ← smypathisch · ssympathisch · symapthisch · symmpathisch · sympahtisch · sympathhisch · sympathicsh · sympathiscch
  • sympathischen ← smypathischen · ssympathischen · symapthischen · symmpathischen · sympahtischen · sympathhischen · sympathicshen · sympathiscchen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sympathisch" and "sympathischen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ] versus [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "sympathisch" or "sympathischen" show up more?
"sympathisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,137 in our German list, against #22,527 for "sympathischen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "sympathischen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,743,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sympathisch" and "sympathischen" 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 #1,743,474 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