auffälligvsauffälligenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,151
“auffällig” frequency rank
#22,257
“auffälligen” frequency rank
28408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auffällig auffälligen
Definition die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehend; Interesse erweckend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs auffällig

Where the eye mixes auffällig and auffälligen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. auffällig runs 9 letters (VVCCVCCVC) against auffälligen's 11 (VVCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
auffällig
11 ch
auffälligen

Why the eye confuses auffällig with auffälligen

A purely visual mix-up. auffällig ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪç]) and auffälligen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡn̩]) 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) - “auffällig” sits inside “auffälligen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auffällig is recorded at frequency rank #6,151, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪç]. auffälligen is at rank #22,257, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡn̩].

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 28408, this pair ranks #1,785,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auffällig vs auffälligen

Shared letters: afgiluä. Private to "auffällig": -. Private to "auffälligen": en.

"auffällig" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "auffälligen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "auffällig" and "auffälligen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪç] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "auffällig" vs "auffälligen" - which ranks higher?
"auffällig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,151 in our German list, against #22,257 for "auffälligen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "auffällig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auffälligen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,785,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auffällig" and "auffälligen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auffälligen vs auffälliger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,785,314 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