älterenvsAztekenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: älteren is a adjective, Azteken is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“älteren” is an adjective and “Azteken” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,376
“älteren” frequency rank
#48,747
“Azteken” frequency rank
51123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature älteren Azteken
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Komparativ der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Azteke

Where the eye mixes älteren and Azteken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. älteren and Azteken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
älteren
7 ch
Azteken

Look-alike desk: älteren vs Azteken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: älteren is [ˈɛltəʁən] while Azteken is [at͡sˈteːkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

älteren is recorded at frequency rank #2,376, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛltəʁən]. Azteken is at rank #48,747, tagged as anoun, pronounced [at͡sˈteːkn̩].

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 51123, this pair ranks #1,147,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of älteren vs Azteken

Shared letters: ent. Private to "älteren": lrä. Private to "Azteken": akz.

"älteren" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "Azteken" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Azteken ← atzeken · azetken · azteekn · aztekenn · aztekken · aztekne · aztkeen · aztteken

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "älteren" for "Azteken" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "älteren" is an adjective and "Azteken" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "älteren" or "Azteken"?
"älteren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,376 in our German list, against #48,747 for "Azteken". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "älteren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Azteken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,147,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "älteren" and "Azteken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Antiken vs Azteken". 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 #1,147,557 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