breitemvsbreitenConfusable pair

Quick tell: breitem is a adjective, breiten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“breitem” is an adjective and “breiten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,014
“breitem” frequency rank
#3,429
“breiten” frequency rank
41443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature breitem breiten
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs breit etwas Zusammengelegtes, das wenig Platz einnimmt, auseinandernehmen und mehr Platz einnehmen lassen

Where the eye mixes breitem and breiten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. breitem and breiten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
breitem
7 ch
breiten

Look-alike desk: breitem vs breiten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: breitem is [ˈbʁaɪ̯təm] while breiten is [ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “breitem” becomes n in “breiten”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

breitem is recorded at frequency rank #38,014, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʁaɪ̯təm]. breiten is at rank #3,429, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩].

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 41443, this pair ranks #1,479,255 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of breitem vs breiten

Shared letters: beirt. Private to "breitem": m. Private to "breiten": n.

"breitem" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "breiten" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • breitembbreitem · beritem · breietm · breitemm · breitme · breittem · bretiem · brietem
  • breitenbbreiten · beriten · breietn · breitenn · breitne · breitten · bretien · brieten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "breitem" and "breiten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "breitem" is an adjective and "breiten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "breitem" or "breiten"?
"breiten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,429 in our German list, against #38,014 for "breitem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "breitem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "breiten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,479,255 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "breitem" and "breiten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "breitem vs breitete". 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 #1,479,255 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