tierischvstierischeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,091
“tierisch” frequency rank
#18,092
“tierische” frequency rank
36183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tierisch tierische
Definition in der Art und Weise eines Tieres, sich auf ein Tier beziehend, zu einem Tier gehörig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tierisch

Where the eye mixes tierisch and tierische

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. tierisch runs 8 letters (CVVCVCCC) against tierische's 9 (CVVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
tierisch
9 ch
tierische

Why the eye confuses tierisch with tierische

A purely visual mix-up. tierisch ([ˈtiːʁɪʃ]) and tierische ([ˈtiːʁɪʃə]) 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) - “tierisch” sits inside “tierische”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tierisch is recorded at frequency rank #18,091, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtiːʁɪʃ]. tierische is at rank #18,092, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtiːʁɪʃə].

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 36183, this pair ranks #1,621,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tierisch vs tierische

Shared letters: cehirst. Private to "tierisch": -. Private to "tierische": -.

"tierisch" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC  ·  "tierische" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tierisch ← iterisch · teirisch · tieirsch · tiericsh · tieriscch · tierischh · tierishc · tierissch
  • tierische ← iterische · teirische · tieirsche · tiericshe · tieriscche · tierisceh · tierischhe · tierishce

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tierisch" and "tierische" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtiːʁɪʃ] versus [ˈtiːʁɪʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "tierisch" or "tierische" show up more?
"tierisch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,091 in our German list, against #18,092 for "tierische". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tierisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tierische" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,621,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tierisch" and "tierische" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tierische vs tierischer". 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 #1,621,951 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