ändernvsAnnenTell them apart

Quick tell: ändern is a verb, Annen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ändern” is a verb and “Annen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,026
“ändern” frequency rank
#41,021
“Annen” frequency rank
42047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ändern Annen
Definition anders machen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Ann

Letter map: ändern vs Annen

Shared letters muted; letters that set ändern and Annen apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. ändern runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against Annen's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ändern
5 ch
Annen

Role in the sentence - ändern and Annen

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ändern is averb and Annenanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ändern is recorded at frequency rank #1,026, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɛndɐn]. Annen is at rank #41,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 42047, this pair ranks #1,461,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ändern vs Annen

Shared letters: en. Private to "ändern": drä. Private to "Annen": a.

"ändern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "Annen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Annen ← anenn · annenn · annne · nanen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ändern" for "Annen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ändern" is a verb and "Annen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ändern" vs "Annen" - which ranks higher?
"ändern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,026 in our German list, against #41,021 for "Annen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "ändern" vs "Annen" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ändern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Annen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,461,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ändern" and "Annen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Annen vs puzzles". 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 #1,461,216 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