ÄngstenvsengstenConfusable pair

Quick tell: Ängsten is a noun, engsten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#21,497
“Ängsten” frequency rank
#16,977
“engsten” frequency rank
38474
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ängsten engsten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Angst Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Superlativs des Adjektivs eng

Same sound, different letters: Ängsten vs engsten

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

7 ch
Ängsten
7 ch
engsten

Homophone desk: Ängsten vs engsten

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: Ängsten and engsten carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈɛŋstn̩]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - ä in “Ängsten” becomes e in “engsten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38474, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ängsten is recorded at frequency rank #21,497, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛŋstn̩]. engsten is at rank #16,977, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛŋstn̩].

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 38474, this pair ranks #1,563,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ängsten vs engsten

Shared letters: egnst. Private to "Ängsten": ä. Private to "engsten": -.

"Ängsten" · 7 letters · shape VCCCCVC  ·  "engsten" · 7 letters · shape VCCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • engstenegnsten · enggsten · engsetn · engssten · engstenn · engstne · engstten · engtsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ängsten" and "engsten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ängsten" is a noun and "engsten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Ängsten" vs "engsten" - which ranks higher?
"engsten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,977 in our German list, against #21,497 for "Ängsten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "Ängsten" / "engsten". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ängsten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "engsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,563,026 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ängsten" and "engsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ängsten vs ärgsten". 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 #1,563,026 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