verlässlichvsverlässlichenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,437
“verlässlich” frequency rank
#31,343
“verlässlichen” frequency rank
50780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlässlich verlässlichen
Definition so, dass man sich darauf verlassen kann Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verlässlich

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set verlässlich and verlässlichen apart are highlighted. They share 11 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
verlässlich
13 ch
verlässlichen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. verlässlich ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪç]) and verlässlichen ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪçn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “verlässlich” sits inside “verlässlichen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlässlich is recorded at frequency rank #19,437, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪç]. verlässlichen is at rank #31,343, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪçn̩].

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 50780, this pair ranks #1,160,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verlässlich vs verlässlichen

Shared letters: cehilrsvä. Private to "verlässlich": -. Private to "verlässlichen": n.

"verlässlich" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCC  ·  "verlässlichen" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verlässlich" and "verlässlichen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪç] versus [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈlɛslɪçn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verlässlich" or "verlässlichen"?
"verlässlich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,437 in our German list, against #31,343 for "verlässlichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list