wirksamvswirksameWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,697
“wirksam” frequency rank
#13,277
“wirksame” frequency rank
20974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirksam wirksame
Definition eine bestimmte aktive Wirkung habend, hervorrufend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wirksam

Where the eye mixes wirksam and wirksame

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. wirksam runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against wirksame's 8 (CVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
wirksam
8 ch
wirksame

Visual trap between wirksam and wirksame

A purely visual mix-up. wirksam ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːm]) and wirksame ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmə]) 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) - “wirksam” sits inside “wirksame”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wirksam is recorded at frequency rank #7,697, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːm]. wirksame is at rank #13,277, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmə].

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 20974, this pair ranks #1,891,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wirksam vs wirksame

Shared letters: aikmrsw. Private to "wirksam": -. Private to "wirksame": e.

"wirksam" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "wirksame" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirksam ← iwrksam · wikrsam · wirkasm · wirkksam · wirksamm · wirksma · wirkssam · wirrksam
  • wirksame ← iwrksame · wikrsame · wirkasme · wirkksame · wirksaem · wirksamme · wirksmae · wirkssame

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wirksam" for "wirksame" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪʁkˌzaːm] versus [ˈvɪʁkˌzaːmə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wirksam" or "wirksame" show up more?
"wirksam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,697 in our German list, against #13,277 for "wirksame". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wirksam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wirksame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,891,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wirksam" and "wirksame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wirksame vs wirksames". 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 #1,891,628 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