sympathischenvssympathischerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,527
“sympathischen” frequency rank
#19,727
“sympathischer” frequency rank
42254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sympathischen sympathischer
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs sympathisch

Where the eye mixes sympathischen and sympathischer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. sympathischen and sympathischer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

13 ch
sympathischen
13 ch
sympathischer

Visual trap between sympathischen and sympathischer

A purely visual mix-up. sympathischen ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩]) 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 a single letter - n in “sympathischen” becomes r in “sympathischer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sympathischen is recorded at frequency rank #22,527, classified as anadj, pronounced [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩]. 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 42254, this pair ranks #1,455,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sympathischen vs sympathischer

Shared letters: acehimpsty. Private to "sympathischen": n. Private to "sympathischer": r.

"sympathischen" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCVC  ·  "sympathischer" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sympathischen ← smypathischen · ssympathischen · symapthischen · symmpathischen · sympahtischen · sympathhischen · sympathicshen · sympathiscchen
  • sympathischer ← smypathischer · ssympathischer · symapthischer · symmpathischer · sympahtischer · sympathhischer · sympathicsher · sympathisccher

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sympathischen" and "sympathischer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([zʏmˈpaːtɪʃn̩] versus [zʏmˈpaːtɪʃɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sympathischen" vs "sympathischer" - which ranks higher?
"sympathischer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,727 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "sympathischen" and "sympathischer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sympathischen" 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 #1,455,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sympathischen" and "sympathischer" 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 #1,455,066 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