engerenvsentgehenTell them apart

Quick tell: engeren is a adjective, entgehen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#13,351
“engeren” frequency rank
#7,165
“entgehen” frequency rank
20516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature engeren entgehen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs eng von etwas Unerwünschtem nicht betroffen werden, etwas Unerwünschtes vermeiden

Where the eye mixes engeren and entgehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. engeren runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against entgehen's 8 (VCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
engeren
8 ch
entgehen

Look-alike desk: engeren vs entgehen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: engeren is [ˈɛŋəʁən] while entgehen is [ɛntˈɡeːən]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

engeren is recorded at frequency rank #13,351, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛŋəʁən]. entgehen is at rank #7,165, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛntˈɡeːən].

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 20516, this pair ranks #1,896,791 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of engeren vs entgehen

Shared letters: egn. Private to "engeren": r. Private to "entgehen": ht.

"engeren" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "entgehen" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • engeren ← egneren · enegren · engeern · engerenn · engerne · engerren · enggeren · engreen
  • entgehen ← engtehen · enntgehen · enteghen · entgeehn · entgehenn · entgehhen · entgehne · entggehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "engeren" and "entgehen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "engeren" is an adjective and "entgehen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "engeren" or "entgehen" show up more?
"entgehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,165 in our German list, against #13,351 for "engeren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "engeren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entgehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,896,791 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "engeren" and "entgehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entbehren vs entgehen". 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 #1,896,791 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