Which to use
“wesentlich” and “wesentliche” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,578
- “wesentlich” frequency rank
- #4,950
- “wesentliche” frequency rank
- 6528
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wesentlich | wesentliche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den größten Anteil ausmachend | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wesentlich |
Where the eye mixes wesentlich and wesentliche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. wesentlich runs 10 letters (CVCVCCCVCC) against wesentliche's 11 (CVCVCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: wesentlich vs wesentliche
A purely visual mix-up. wesentlich ([ˈveːzn̩tlɪç]) and wesentliche ([ˈveːzn̩tlɪçə]) 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) - “wesentlich” sits inside “wesentliche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wesentlich is recorded at frequency rank #1,578, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːzn̩tlɪç]. wesentliche is at rank #4,950, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːzn̩tlɪçə].
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 6528, this pair ranks #1,991,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wesentlich vs wesentliche
Shared letters: cehilnstw. Private to "wesentlich": -. Private to "wesentliche": -.
"wesentlich" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC · "wesentliche" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- wesentlich ← ewsentlich · weesntlich · wesenltich · wesenntlich · wesentilch · wesentlcih · wesentlicch · wesentlichh
- wesentliche ← ewsentliche · weesntliche · wesenltiche · wesenntliche · wesentilche · wesentlcihe · wesentlicche · wesentliceh
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wesentlich" for "wesentliche" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "wesentlich" or "wesentliche" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wesentlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wesentliche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,991,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wesentlich" and "wesentliche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wesentlich vs wissentlich". 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 #1,991,326 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.