banalevsbanalenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,741
“banale” frequency rank
#46,500
“banalen” frequency rank
90241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banale banalen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs banal Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs banal

Where the eye mixes banale and banalen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. banale runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against banalen's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
banale
7 ch
banalen

Why the eye confuses banale with banalen

A purely visual mix-up. banale ([baˈnaːlə]) and banalen ([baˈnaːlən]) 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) - “banale” sits inside “banalen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banale is recorded at frequency rank #43,741, classified as anadj, pronounced [baˈnaːlə]. banalen is at rank #46,500, tagged as anadj, pronounced [baˈnaːlən].

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 90241, this pair ranks #48,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of banale vs banalen

Shared letters: abeln. Private to "banale": -. Private to "banalen": -.

"banale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "banalen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banaleabnale · baanle · banael · banalle · banlae · bannale · bbanale · bnaale
  • banalenabnalen · baanlen · banaeln · banalenn · banallen · banalne · banlaen · bannalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "banale" for "banalen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([baˈnaːlə] versus [baˈnaːlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banale" vs "banalen" - which ranks higher?
"banale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,741 in our German list, against #46,500 for "banalen". 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 "banale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "banalen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banale" and "banalen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banalen vs Bandagen". 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 #48,916 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