auffälligevsauffälligenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,477
“auffällige” frequency rank
#22,257
“auffälligen” frequency rank
40734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auffällige auffälligen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs auffällig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs auffällig

Where the eye mixes auffällige and auffälligen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. auffällige runs 10 letters (VVCCVCCVCV) against auffälligen's 11 (VVCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
auffällige
11 ch
auffälligen

Why the eye confuses auffällige with auffälligen

A purely visual mix-up. auffällige ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “auffällige” sits inside “auffälligen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auffällige is recorded at frequency rank #18,477, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡə]. 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 40734, this pair ranks #1,499,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of auffällige vs auffälligen

Shared letters: aefgiluä. Private to "auffällige": -. Private to "auffälligen": n.

"auffällige" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCV  ·  "auffälligen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "auffällige" for "auffälligen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡə] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌfɛlɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "auffällige" vs "auffälligen" - which ranks higher?
"auffällige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,477 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "auffällige" 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 #1,499,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auffällige" and "auffälligen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auffälligen vs auffälliger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,499,905 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