engemvsEnteConfusable pair

Quick tell: engem is a adjective, Ente is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“engem” is an adjective and “Ente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,695
“engem” frequency rank
#10,642
“Ente” frequency rank
35337
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature engem Ente
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eng kleinerer Wasservogel aus der Familie der Entenvögel (Anatidae), speziell

Where the eye mixes engem and Ente

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

5 ch
engem
4 ch
Ente

Why the eye confuses engem with Ente

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: engem is [ˈɛŋəm] while Ente is [ˈɛntə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

engem is recorded at frequency rank #24,695, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛŋəm]. 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 35337, this pair ranks #1,642,402 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of engem vs Ente

Shared letters: en. Private to "engem": gm. Private to "Ente": t.

"engem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • engemegnem · enegm · engemm · enggem · engme · enngem · negem
  • Enteenet · ennte · etne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "engem" and "Ente" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "engem" is an adjective and "Ente" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "engem" or "Ente"?
"Ente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,642 in our German list, against #24,695 for "engem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "engem" and "Ente" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "engem" 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 #1,642,402 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "engem" and "Ente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "engem vs engstem". 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 #1,642,402 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