Which to use
“empfehle” and “empfehlen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,290
- “empfehle” frequency rank
- #1,808
- “empfehlen” frequency rank
- 8098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empfehle | empfehlen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs empfehlen | jemanden/etwas als vorteilhaft, geeignet, zuverlässig infrage kommend benennen; jemandem anraten, sich für jemanden beziehungsweise etwas zu entscheiden |
Where the eye mixes empfehle and empfehlen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. empfehle runs 8 letters (VCCCVCCV) against empfehlen's 9 (VCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between empfehle and empfehlen
A purely visual mix-up. empfehle ([ɛmˈp͡feːlə]) and empfehlen ([ɛmˈp͡feːlən]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “empfehle” sits inside “empfehlen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empfehle is recorded at frequency rank #6,290, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡feːlə]. empfehlen is at rank #1,808, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛmˈp͡feːlən].
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 8098, this pair ranks #1,985,645 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of empfehle vs empfehlen
Shared letters: efhlmp. Private to "empfehle": -. Private to "empfehlen": n.
"empfehle" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV · "empfehlen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empfehle" and "empfehlen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "empfehle" or "empfehlen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "empfehle" and "empfehlen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "empfehle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empfehlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,985,645 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empfehle" and "empfehlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empfehlen vs empfohlene". 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 #1,985,645 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.