EhenvsElendWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Ehen” and “Elend” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,583
“Ehen” frequency rank
#7,599
“Elend” frequency rank
21182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ehen Elend
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ehe das Land außerhalb der eigenen Heimat, die Fremde, das Wohnen in der Fremde, das Wohnen im Ausland

Where the eye mixes Ehen and Elend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ehen
5 ch
Elend

Look-alike desk: Ehen vs Elend

A purely visual mix-up. Ehen ([ˈeːən]) and Elend ([ˈeːlɛnt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ehen is recorded at frequency rank #13,583, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːən]. Elend is at rank #7,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːlɛnt].

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 21182, this pair ranks #1,889,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ehen vs Elend

Shared letters: en. Private to "Ehen": h. Private to "Elend": dl.

"Ehen" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Elend" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eheneehn · ehenn · ehhen · ehne · heen
  • Elendeelnd · eledn · elendd · elennd · ellend · elned · leend

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ehen" for "Elend" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːən] versus [ˈeːlɛnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ehen" or "Elend" show up more?
"Elend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,599 in our German list, against #13,583 for "Ehen". 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 "Ehen" and "Elend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Elend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,889,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ehen" and "Elend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ehen 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 #1,889,238 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