verbindlichevsverbindlichenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,420
“verbindliche” frequency rank
#27,993
“verbindlichen” frequency rank
46413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbindliche verbindlichen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verbindlich Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verbindlich

Where the eye mixes verbindliche and verbindlichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. verbindliche runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCCVCCV) against verbindlichen's 13 (CVCCVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
verbindliche
13 ch
verbindlichen

Why the eye confuses verbindliche with verbindlichen

A purely visual mix-up. verbindliche ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçə]) and verbindlichen ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçn̩]) 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) - “verbindliche” sits inside “verbindlichen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbindliche is recorded at frequency rank #18,420, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçə]. verbindlichen is at rank #27,993, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçn̩].

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 46413, this pair ranks #1,319,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbindliche vs verbindlichen

Shared letters: bcdehilnrv. Private to "verbindliche": -. Private to "verbindlichen": -.

"verbindliche" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCCV  ·  "verbindlichen" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbindliche ← evrbindliche · vebrindliche · verbbindliche · verbidnliche · verbinddliche · verbindilche · verbindlcihe · verbindlicche
  • verbindlichen ← evrbindlichen · vebrindlichen · verbbindlichen · verbidnlichen · verbinddlichen · verbindilchen · verbindlcihen · verbindlicchen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verbindliche" and "verbindlichen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈbɪntlɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verbindliche" or "verbindlichen" show up more?
"verbindliche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,420 in our German list, against #27,993 for "verbindlichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbindliche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbindlichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,319,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbindliche" and "verbindlichen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbindliche vs vorbildliche". 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 #1,319,982 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