unmöglichvsunmöglicheTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,829
“unmöglich” frequency rank
#22,544
“unmögliche” frequency rank
24373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unmöglich unmögliche
Definition nicht machbar, undurchführbar Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs unmöglich

Where the eye mixes unmöglich and unmögliche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. unmöglich runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCC) against unmögliche's 10 (VCCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
unmöglich
10 ch
unmögliche

Look-alike desk: unmöglich vs unmögliche

A purely visual mix-up. unmöglich ([ˈʊnmøːklɪç]) and unmögliche ([ˈʊnmøːklɪçə]) 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) - “unmöglich” sits inside “unmögliche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unmöglich is recorded at frequency rank #1,829, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnmøːklɪç]. unmögliche is at rank #22,544, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnmøːklɪçə].

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 24373, this pair ranks #1,848,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of unmöglich vs unmögliche

Shared letters: cghilmnuö. Private to "unmöglich": -. Private to "unmögliche": e.

"unmöglich" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC  ·  "unmögliche" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unmöglich" and "unmögliche" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnmøːklɪç] versus [ˈʊnmøːklɪçə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "unmöglich" or "unmögliche" show up more?
"unmöglich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,829 in our German list, against #22,544 for "unmögliche". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "unmöglich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unmögliche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,848,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unmöglich" and "unmögliche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unmögliche vs unmögliches". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,848,564 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