brennendvsBrunnenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: brennend is a adjective, Brunnen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“brennend” is an adjective and “Brunnen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,490
“brennend” frequency rank
#5,690
“Brunnen” frequency rank
36180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brennend Brunnen
Definition mit Feuer in Kontakt sein, in Flammen stehend Tiefbauwerk zur Gewinnung von Grundwasser oder Uferfiltrat, manchmal, vor allem früher, auch Bauwerke zur Gewinnung von Quellwasser

Where the eye mixes brennend and Brunnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
brennend
7 ch
Brunnen

Visual trap between brennend and Brunnen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brennend is [ˈbʁɛnənt] while Brunnen is [ˈbʁʊnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brennend is recorded at frequency rank #30,490, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbʁɛnənt]. Brunnen is at rank #5,690, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbʁʊnən].

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 36180, this pair ranks #1,622,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of brennend vs Brunnen

Shared letters: benr. Private to "brennend": d. Private to "Brunnen": u.

"brennend" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC  ·  "Brunnen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brennendbbrennend · bernnend · brenend · brenennd · brennedn · brennendd · brennennd · brennned
  • Brunnenbbrunnen · brnunen · brrunnen · brunen · brunenn · brunnenn · brunnne · burnnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "brennend" and "Brunnen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "brennend" is an adjective and "Brunnen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "brennend" or "Brunnen" show up more?
"Brunnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,690 in our German list, against #30,490 for "brennend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "brennend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Brunnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,622,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brennend" and "Brunnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brennend vs Brunnens". 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 #1,622,013 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