aufwendigevsaufwendigenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,024
“aufwendige” frequency rank
#28,073
“aufwendigen” frequency rank
51097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufwendige aufwendigen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs aufwendig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs aufwendig

Where the eye mixes aufwendige and aufwendigen

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

10 ch
aufwendige
11 ch
aufwendigen

Look-alike desk: aufwendige vs aufwendigen

A purely visual mix-up. aufwendige ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə]) and aufwendigen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡn̩]) 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) - “aufwendige” sits inside “aufwendigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufwendige is recorded at frequency rank #23,024, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə]. aufwendigen is at rank #28,073, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡn̩].

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 51097, this pair ranks #1,148,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufwendige vs aufwendigen

Shared letters: adefginuw. Private to "aufwendige": -. Private to "aufwendigen": -.

"aufwendige" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCV  ·  "aufwendigen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufwendige ← afuwendige · aufewndige · auffwendige · aufwednige · aufwenddige · aufwendgie · aufwendieg · aufwendigge
  • aufwendigen ← afuwendigen · aufewndigen · auffwendigen · aufwednigen · aufwenddigen · aufwendgien · aufwendiegn · aufwendigenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufwendige" for "aufwendigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aufwendige" or "aufwendigen"?
"aufwendige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,024 in our German list, against #28,073 for "aufwendigen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufwendige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufwendigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,148,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufwendige" and "aufwendigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufwändiger vs aufwendigen". 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 #1,148,602 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