endenvsengeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: enden is a verb, enge is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“enden” is a verb and “enge” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,242
“enden” frequency rank
#3,724
“enge” frequency rank
6966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enden enge
Definition aufhören, am Ende sein, zu Ende kommen Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs eng

Where the eye mixes enden and enge

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

5 ch
enden
4 ch
enge

Visual trap between enden and enge

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enden is [ˈɛndn̩] while enge is [ˈɛŋə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enden is recorded at frequency rank #3,242, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɛndn̩]. enge is at rank #3,724, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛŋə].

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 6966, this pair ranks #1,989,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of enden vs enge

Shared letters: en. Private to "enden": d. Private to "enge": g.

"enden" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "enge" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • endenendden · endenn · endne · enedn · ennden · neden
  • engeegne · eneg · engge · ennge · nege

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enden" for "enge" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enden" is a verb and "enge" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "enden" vs "enge" - which ranks higher?
"enden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,242 in our German list, against #3,724 for "enge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,989,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enden" and "enge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enden vs Eupen". 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 #1,989,865 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