zugehörigevszugehörigenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,786
“zugehörige” frequency rank
#13,289
“zugehörigen” frequency rank
33075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zugehörige zugehörigen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zugehörig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zugehörig

Where the eye mixes zugehörige and zugehörigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. zugehörige runs 10 letters (CVCVCVCVCV) against zugehörigen's 11 (CVCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
zugehörige
11 ch
zugehörigen

Visual trap between zugehörige and zugehörigen

A purely visual mix-up. zugehörige ([ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡə]) and zugehörigen ([ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡn̩]) 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) - “zugehörige” sits inside “zugehörigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zugehörige is recorded at frequency rank #19,786, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡə]. zugehörigen is at rank #13,289, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡn̩].

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 33075, this pair ranks #1,693,819 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of zugehörige vs zugehörigen

Shared letters: eghiruzö. Private to "zugehörige": -. Private to "zugehörigen": n.

"zugehörige" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV  ·  "zugehörigen" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zugehörige" for "zugehörigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡə] versus [ˈt͡suːɡəˌhøːʁɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "zugehörige" vs "zugehörigen" - which ranks higher?
"zugehörigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,289 in our German list, against #19,786 for "zugehörige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "zugehörige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zugehörigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,693,819 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zugehörige" and "zugehörigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zugehörig vs zugehörige". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,693,819 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