UmrissevsUmrissenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,834
“Umrisse” frequency rank
#48,565
“Umrissen” frequency rank
86399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Umrisse Umrissen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Umriss Dativ Plural des Substantivs Umriss

Where the eye mixes Umrisse and Umrissen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Umrisse runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against Umrissen's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Umrisse
8 ch
Umrissen

Why the eye confuses Umrisse with Umrissen

A purely visual mix-up. Umrisse ([ˈʊmʁɪsə]) and Umrissen ([ˈʊmˌʁɪsn̩]) 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) - “Umrisse” sits inside “Umrissen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Umrisse is recorded at frequency rank #37,834, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊmʁɪsə]. Umrissen is at rank #48,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊmˌʁɪsn̩].

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 86399, this pair ranks #94,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Umrisse vs Umrissen

Shared letters: eimrsu. Private to "Umrisse": -. Private to "Umrissen": n.

"Umrisse" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "Umrissen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Umrisse ← murisse · umirsse · ummrisse · umrise · umrises · umriße · umrrisse · umrsise
  • Umrissen ← murissen · umirssen · ummrissen · umrisen · umrisesn · umrissenn · umrissne · umrißen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Umrisse" for "Umrissen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊmʁɪsə] versus [ˈʊmˌʁɪsn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Umrisse" vs "Umrissen" - which ranks higher?
"Umrisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,834 in our German list, against #48,565 for "Umrissen". 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 "Umrisse" and "Umrissen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Umrisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Umrissen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Umrisse" and "Umrissen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Umrissen vs Unwissen". 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 #94,299 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