AthletvsAthletenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,197
“Athlet” frequency rank
#8,677
“Athleten” frequency rank
35874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Athlet Athleten
Definition Person, die sportlich aktiv ist, regelmäßig trainiert und meist an Wettkämpfen teilnimmt (besonders im Bereich der Leicht- und Schwerathletik) Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Athlet

Where the eye mixes Athlet and Athleten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Athlet
8 ch
Athleten

Look-alike desk: Athlet vs Athleten

A purely visual mix-up. Athlet ([atˈleːt]) and Athleten ([atˈleːtn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Athlet” sits inside “Athleten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Athlet is recorded at frequency rank #27,197, classified as anoun, pronounced [atˈleːt]. Athleten is at rank #8,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [atˈleːtn̩].

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 35874, this pair ranks #1,629,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Athlet vs Athleten

Shared letters: aehlt. Private to "Athlet": -. Private to "Athleten": n.

"Athlet" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "Athleten" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Athletahtlet · athelt · athhlet · athlett · athllet · athlte · atlhet · atthlet
  • Athletenahtleten · athelten · athhleten · athleetn · athletenn · athletne · athletten · athlleten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Athlet" for "Athleten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([atˈleːt] versus [atˈleːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Athlet" or "Athleten"?
"Athleten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,677 in our German list, against #27,197 for "Athlet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Athlet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Athleten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,629,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Athlet" and "Athleten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Äther vs Athlet". 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 #1,629,435 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