AbständevsAbständenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,241
“Abstände” frequency rank
#11,161
“Abständen” frequency rank
33402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Abstände Abständen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Abstand Dativ Plural des Substantivs Abstand

Where the eye mixes Abstände and Abständen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
Abstände
9 ch
Abständen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Abstände ([ˈapˌʃtɛndə]) and Abständen ([ˈapˌʃtɛndn̩]) 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) - “Abstände” sits inside “Abständen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Abstände is recorded at frequency rank #22,241, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌʃtɛndə]. Abständen is at rank #11,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌʃtɛndn̩].

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 33402, this pair ranks #1,686,724 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Abstände vs Abständen

Shared letters: abdenstä. Private to "Abstände": -. Private to "Abständen": -.

"Abstände" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV  ·  "Abständen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Abstände" and "Abständen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌʃtɛndə] versus [ˈapˌʃtɛndn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Abstände" or "Abständen"?
"Abständen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,161 in our German list, against #22,241 for "Abstände". 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