entspannenvsentspanntenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,413
“entspannen” frequency rank
#17,274
“entspannten” frequency rank
23687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entspannen entspannten
Definition etwas die mechanische Spannung nehmen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs entspannt

Where the eye mixes entspannen and entspannten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. entspannen runs 10 letters (VCCCCVCCVC) against entspannten's 11 (VCCCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
entspannen
11 ch
entspannten

Visual trap between entspannen and entspannten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: entspannen is [ɛntˈʃpanən] while entspannten is [ɛntˈʃpantn̩]. 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 23687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entspannen is recorded at frequency rank #6,413, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛntˈʃpanən]. entspannten is at rank #17,274, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛntˈʃpantn̩].

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 23687, this pair ranks #1,857,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entspannen vs entspannten

Shared letters: aenpst. Private to "entspannen": -. Private to "entspannten": -.

"entspannen" · 10 letters · shape VCCCCVCCVC  ·  "entspannten" · 11 letters · shape VCCCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entspannen ← enntspannen · enstpannen · entpsannen · entsapnnen · entspanen · entspanenn · entspannenn · entspannne
  • entspannten ← enntspannten · enstpannten · entpsannten · entsapnnten · entspannetn · entspanntenn · entspanntne · entspanntten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entspannen" and "entspannten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "entspannen" is a verb and "entspannten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "entspannen" vs "entspannten" - which ranks higher?
"entspannen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,413 in our German list, against #17,274 for "entspannten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "entspannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entspannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,857,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entspannen" and "entspannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entspannten vs entspanntes". 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 #1,857,956 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