Which to use
“empfanden” and “empfangen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,073
- “empfanden” frequency rank
- #3,883
- “empfangen” frequency rank
- 41956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empfanden | empfangen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs empfinden | etwas bekommen |
Where the eye mixes empfanden and empfangen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. empfanden and empfangen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses empfanden with empfangen
A purely visual mix-up. empfanden ([ɛmˈp͡fandn̩]) and empfangen ([ɛmˈp͡faŋən]) 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 a single letter - d in “empfanden” becomes g in “empfangen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empfanden is recorded at frequency rank #38,073, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡fandn̩]. empfangen is at rank #3,883, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡faŋən].
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 41956, this pair ranks #1,463,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empfanden vs empfangen
Shared letters: aefmnp. Private to "empfanden": d. Private to "empfangen": g.
"empfanden" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC · "empfangen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "empfanden" and "empfangen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "empfanden" or "empfangen" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "empfanden" and "empfangen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "empfanden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empfangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,463,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empfanden" and "empfangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empfanden vs empfange". 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 #1,463,935 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.