EbenenvselendenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ebenen is a noun, elenden is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,472
“Ebenen” frequency rank
#30,021
“elenden” frequency rank
35493
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ebenen elenden
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ebene Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs elend

Where the eye mixes Ebenen and elenden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Ebenen runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against elenden's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Ebenen
7 ch
elenden

Why the eye confuses Ebenen with elenden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ebenen is [ˈeːbənən] while elenden is [ˈeːlɛndn̩]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ebenen is recorded at frequency rank #5,472, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːbənən]. elenden is at rank #30,021, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːlɛndn̩].

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 35493, this pair ranks #1,638,704 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ebenen vs elenden

Shared letters: en. Private to "Ebenen": b. Private to "elenden": dl.

"Ebenen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "elenden" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ebenenbeenen · ebbenen · ebeenn · ebenenn · ebennen · ebneen · eebnen
  • elendeneelnden · elednen · elendden · elendenn · elendne · elenedn · elennden · ellenden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ebenen" for "elenden" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ebenen" is a noun and "elenden" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Ebenen" or "elenden" show up more?
"Ebenen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,472 in our German list, against #30,021 for "elenden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Ebenen" and "elenden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ebenen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elenden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,638,704 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ebenen" and "elenden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elenden vs Eleven". 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 #1,638,704 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