AbendvsAbendeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#405
“Abend” frequency rank
#13,755
“Abende” frequency rank
14160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Abend Abende
Definition die Tageszeit nach dem Nachmittag, die beginnt, wenn die Sonne den Horizont erreicht, und bei völliger Dunkelheit endet; dem Abend geht der Tag voran und auf den Abend folgt die Nacht Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Abend

Where the eye mixes Abend and Abende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Abend
6 ch
Abende

Visual trap between Abend and Abende

A purely visual mix-up. Abend ([ˈaːbn̩t]) and Abende ([ˈaːbn̩də]) 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) - “Abend” sits inside “Abende”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Abend is recorded at frequency rank #405, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaːbn̩t]. Abende is at rank #13,755, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaːbn̩də].

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 14160, this pair ranks #1,953,147 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Abend vs Abende

Shared letters: abden. Private to "Abend": -. Private to "Abende": -.

"Abend" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "Abende" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Abendabbend · abedn · abendd · abennd · abned · aebnd · baend
  • Abendeabbende · abedne · abendde · abened · abennde · abnede · aebnde · baende

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Abend" and "Abende" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaːbn̩t] versus [ˈaːbn̩də]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Abend" or "Abende" show up more?
"Abend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #405 in our German list, against #13,755 for "Abende". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Abend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Abende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,953,147 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Abend" and "Abende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Abende vs abrede". 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 #1,953,147 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