unmöglichenvsunmöglichesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,266
“unmöglichen” frequency rank
#48,575
“unmögliches” frequency rank
88841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unmöglichen unmögliches
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs unmöglich Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs unmöglich

Where the eye mixes unmöglichen and unmögliches

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. unmöglichen and unmögliches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
unmöglichen
11 ch
unmögliches

Look-alike desk: unmöglichen vs unmögliches

A purely visual mix-up. unmöglichen ([ˈʊnmøːklɪçn̩]) and unmögliches ([ˈʊnmøːklɪçəs]) 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 “unmöglichen” becomes s in “unmögliches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unmöglichen is recorded at frequency rank #40,266, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnmøːklɪçn̩]. unmögliches is at rank #48,575, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnmøːklɪçəs].

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 88841, this pair ranks #63,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of unmöglichen vs unmögliches

Shared letters: ceghilmnuö. Private to "unmöglichen": -. Private to "unmögliches": s.

"unmöglichen" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC  ·  "unmögliches" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "unmöglichen" and "unmögliches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnmøːklɪçn̩] versus [ˈʊnmøːklɪçəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "unmöglichen" or "unmögliches"?
"unmöglichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,266 in our German list, against #48,575 for "unmögliches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "unmöglichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unmögliches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unmöglichen" and "unmögliches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unmöglichen vs unsäglichen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #63,873 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