dichtemvsdichtenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,419
“dichtem” frequency rank
#12,050
“dichten” frequency rank
54469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dichtem dichten
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dicht ein sprachliches Kunstwerk verfassen

Where the eye mixes dichtem and dichten

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

7 ch
dichtem
7 ch
dichten

Look-alike desk: dichtem vs dichten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dichtem is [ˈdɪçtəm] while dichten is [ˈdɪçtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “dichtem” becomes n in “dichten”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dichtem is recorded at frequency rank #42,419, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdɪçtəm]. dichten is at rank #12,050, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɪçtn̩].

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 54469, this pair ranks #1,017,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dichtem vs dichten

Shared letters: cdehit. Private to "dichtem": m. Private to "dichten": n.

"dichtem" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "dichten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dichtem ← dcihtem · ddichtem · dicchtem · dichetm · dichhtem · dichtemm · dichtme · dichttem
  • dichten ← dcihten · ddichten · dicchten · dichetn · dichhten · dichtenn · dichtne · dichtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dichtem" and "dichten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dichtem" is an adjective and "dichten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dichtem" or "dichten" show up more?
"dichten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,050 in our German list, against #42,419 for "dichtem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dichtem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dichten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,017,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dichtem" and "dichten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dichtem vs Dichtern". 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 #1,017,678 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