EndevsEnteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Ende” and “Ente” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#198
“Ende” frequency rank
#10,642
“Ente” frequency rank
10840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ende Ente
Definition Abschluss eines zeitlichen Vorganges kleinerer Wasservogel aus der Familie der Entenvögel (Anatidae), speziell

Where the eye mixes Ende and Ente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ende
4 ch
Ente

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Ende ([ˈɛndə]) and Ente ([ˈɛntə]) 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 “Ende” becomes t in “Ente”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ende is recorded at frequency rank #198, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛndə]. Ente is at rank #10,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛntə].

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 10840, this pair ranks #1,973,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ende vs Ente

Shared letters: en. Private to "Ende": d. Private to "Ente": t.

"Ende" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Endeedne · endde · ened · ennde · nede
  • Enteenet · ennte · etne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ende" and "Ente" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛndə] versus [ˈɛntə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ende" or "Ente"?
"Ende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #198 in our German list, against #10,642 for "Ente". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Ende" and "Ente". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ende" and "Ente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ente vs Erle". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list