Which to use
“empfangen” and “empfinden” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,883
- “empfangen” frequency rank
- #5,700
- “empfinden” frequency rank
- 9583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empfangen | empfinden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas bekommen | mit den menschlichen Sinnen (etwas) wahrnehmen |
Where the eye mixes empfangen and empfinden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. empfangen and empfinden 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 empfangen with empfinden
A purely visual mix-up. empfangen ([ɛmˈp͡faŋən]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empfangen is recorded at frequency rank #3,883, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡faŋən]. 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 9583, this pair ranks #1,979,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of empfangen vs empfinden
Shared letters: efmnp. Private to "empfangen": ag. Private to "empfinden": di.
"empfangen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC · "empfinden" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empfangen" and "empfinden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "empfangen" or "empfinden" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "empfangen" and "empfinden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "empfangen" 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 #1,979,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empfangen" and "empfinden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "einfinden vs empfinden". 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 #1,979,273 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.