sympathischvssympathischerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,137
“sympathisch” frequency rank
#19,727
“sympathischer” frequency rank
27864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sympathisch sympathischer
Definition zu Sympathien motivierend; charmant, nett Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch

Where the eye mixes sympathisch and sympathischer

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

11 ch
sympathisch
13 ch
sympathischer

Why the eye confuses sympathisch with sympathischer

A purely visual mix-up. sympathisch ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ]) and sympathischer ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃɐ]) 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 “sympathischer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27864, 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]. sympathischer is at rank #19,727, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃɐ].

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 27864, this pair ranks #1,794,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sympathisch vs sympathischer

Shared letters: achimpsty. Private to "sympathisch": -. Private to "sympathischer": er.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sympathisch ← smypathisch · ssympathisch · symapthisch · symmpathisch · sympahtisch · sympathhisch · sympathicsh · sympathiscch
  • sympathischer ← smypathischer · ssympathischer · symapthischer · symmpathischer · sympahtischer · sympathhischer · sympathicsher · sympathisccher

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sympathisch" for "sympathischer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃ] versus [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sympathisch" vs "sympathischer" - which ranks higher?
"sympathisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,137 in our German list, against #19,727 for "sympathischer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "sympathischer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,794,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sympathisch" and "sympathischer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sympathischen vs sympathischer". 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 #1,794,579 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