Which to use
“empfanden” and “empfinden” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,073
- “empfanden” frequency rank
- #5,700
- “empfinden” frequency rank
- 43773
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empfanden | empfinden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs empfinden | mit den menschlichen Sinnen (etwas) wahrnehmen |
Where the eye mixes empfanden and empfinden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. empfanden and empfinden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: empfanden vs empfinden
A purely visual mix-up. empfanden ([ɛmˈp͡fandn̩]) and empfinden ([ɛmˈp͡fɪndn̩]) 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 - a in “empfanden” becomes i in “empfinden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43773, 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]. empfinden is at rank #5,700, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡fɪndn̩].
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 43773, this pair ranks #1,407,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empfanden vs empfinden
Shared letters: defmnp. Private to "empfanden": a. Private to "empfinden": i.
"empfanden" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC · "empfinden" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empfanden" and "empfinden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "empfanden" or "empfinden" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "empfanden" and "empfinden" 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 "empfinden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,407,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empfanden" and "empfinden" 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 #1,407,448 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.