eintauschenvsenttäuschenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,497
“eintauschen” frequency rank
#16,405
“enttäuschen” frequency rank
48902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eintauschen enttäuschen
Definition etwas geben und etwas anderes dafür bekommen eine Hoffnung, einen Wunsch oder eine Erwartung nicht erfüllen oder zerstören

Where the eye mixes eintauschen and enttäuschen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. eintauschen (VVCCVVCCCVC) and enttäuschen (VCCCVVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
eintauschen
11 ch
enttäuschen

Look-alike desk: eintauschen vs enttäuschen

A purely visual mix-up. eintauschen ([ˈaɪ̯nˌtaʊ̯ʃn̩]) and enttäuschen ([ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eintauschen is recorded at frequency rank #32,497, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nˌtaʊ̯ʃn̩]. enttäuschen is at rank #16,405, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩].

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 48902, this pair ranks #1,231,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eintauschen vs enttäuschen

Shared letters: cehnstu. Private to "eintauschen": ai. Private to "enttäuschen": ä.

"eintauschen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVVCCCVC  ·  "enttäuschen" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eintauschen ← einatuschen · einntauschen · eintasuchen · eintaucshen · eintauscchen · eintauscehn · eintauschenn · eintauschhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eintauschen" and "enttäuschen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯nˌtaʊ̯ʃn̩] versus [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "eintauschen" or "enttäuschen"?
"enttäuschen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,405 in our German list, against #32,497 for "eintauschen". 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 "eintauschen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enttäuschen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,231,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eintauschen" and "enttäuschen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enttäuschen vs enttäuschten". 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 #1,231,318 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