edlenvsendenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#11,634
“edlen” frequency rank
#3,242
“enden” frequency rank
14876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature edlen enden
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs edel aufhören, am Ende sein, zu Ende kommen

Where the eye mixes edlen and enden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
edlen
5 ch
enden

Visual trap between edlen and enden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: edlen is [ˈeːdlən] while enden is [ˈɛndn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

edlen is recorded at frequency rank #11,634, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːdlən]. enden is at rank #3,242, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɛndn̩].

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 14876, this pair ranks #1,948,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of edlen vs enden

Shared letters: den. Private to "edlen": l. Private to "enden": -.

"edlen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "enden" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • edlendelen · eddlen · edeln · edlenn · edllen · edlne · elden
  • endenendden · endenn · endne · enedn · ennden · neden

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "edlen" and "enden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "edlen" is an adjective and "enden" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "edlen" or "enden" show up more?
"enden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,242 in our German list, against #11,634 for "edlen". 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 "edlen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "edlen" and "enden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "edlen vs Eupen". 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 #1,948,088 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