ansteckendevsansteigendeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,705
“ansteckende” frequency rank
#47,211
“ansteigende” frequency rank
95916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ansteckende ansteigende
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ansteckend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ansteigend

Where the eye mixes ansteckende and ansteigende

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. ansteckende (VCCCVCCVCCV) and ansteigende (VCCCVVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
ansteckende
11 ch
ansteigende

Look-alike desk: ansteckende vs ansteigende

A purely visual mix-up. ansteckende ([ˈanˌʃtɛkn̩də]) and ansteigende ([ˈanˌʃtaɪ̯ɡn̩də]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ansteckende is recorded at frequency rank #48,705, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈanˌʃtɛkn̩də]. ansteigende is at rank #47,211, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanˌʃtaɪ̯ɡn̩də].

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 95916, this pair ranks #9,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ansteckende vs ansteigende

Shared letters: adenst. Private to "ansteckende": ck. Private to "ansteigende": gi.

"ansteckende" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCCV  ·  "ansteigende" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ansteckende ← annsteckende · ansetckende · anssteckende · anstcekende · anstecckende · ansteceknde · ansteckedne · ansteckendde
  • ansteigende ← annsteigende · ansetigende · anssteigende · anstegiende · ansteiegnde · ansteigedne · ansteigendde · ansteigened

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ansteckende" for "ansteigende" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌʃtɛkn̩də] versus [ˈanˌʃtaɪ̯ɡn̩də]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ansteckende" or "ansteigende" show up more?
"ansteigende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #47,211 in our German list, against #48,705 for "ansteckende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ansteckende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ansteigende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ansteckende" and "ansteigende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ansteigende vs aufsteigende". 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 #9,468 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