EmpfangvsempfingTell them apart

Quick tell: Empfang is a noun, empfing is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Empfang” is a noun and “empfing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,264
“Empfang” frequency rank
#13,808
“empfing” frequency rank
18072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Empfang empfing
Definition das Empfangen einer Übertragung (zum Beispiel Rundfunk, Funk, Handy, …) 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs empfangen

Where the eye mixes Empfang and empfing

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Empfang and empfing follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Empfang
7 ch
empfing

Look-alike desk: Empfang vs empfing

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Empfang is [ɛmˈp͡faŋ] while empfing is [ɛmˈp͡fɪŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Empfang” becomes i in “empfing”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Empfang is recorded at frequency rank #4,264, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡faŋ]. empfing is at rank #13,808, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡fɪŋ].

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 18072, this pair ranks #1,921,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Empfang vs empfing

Shared letters: efgmnp. Private to "Empfang": a. Private to "empfing": i.

"Empfang" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC  ·  "empfing" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Empfang ← emfpang · emmpfang · empafng · empfagn · empfangg · empfanng · empffang · empfnag
  • empfing ← emfping · emmpfing · empffing · empfign · empfingg · empfinng · empfnig · empifng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Empfang" and "empfing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Empfang" is a noun and "empfing" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Empfang" or "empfing"?
"Empfang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,264 in our German list, against #13,808 for "empfing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Empfang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empfing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Empfang" and "empfing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empfange vs empfing". 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 #1,921,671 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