Which to use
“sympathische” and “sympathischen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,426
- “sympathische” frequency rank
- #22,527
- “sympathischen” frequency rank
- 42953
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sympathische | sympathischen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch |
Where the eye mixes sympathische and sympathischen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. sympathische runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCVCCCV) against sympathischen's 13 (CVCCVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sympathische vs sympathischen
A purely visual mix-up. sympathische ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “sympathische” sits inside “sympathischen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sympathische is recorded at frequency rank #20,426, classified as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃə]. 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 42953, this pair ranks #1,433,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sympathische vs sympathischen
Shared letters: acehimpsty. Private to "sympathische": -. Private to "sympathischen": n.
"sympathische" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCV · "sympathischen" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sympathische ← smypathische · ssympathische · symapthische · symmpathische · sympahtische · sympathhische · sympathicshe · sympathiscche
- sympathischen ← smypathischen · ssympathischen · symapthischen · symmpathischen · sympahtischen · sympathhischen · sympathicshen · sympathiscchen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sympathische" for "sympathischen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sympathische" or "sympathischen"?
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 "sympathische" 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 #1,433,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sympathische" and "sympathischen" 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 #1,433,193 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.