enttäuschendvsenttäuschtenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#13,812
“enttäuschend” frequency rank
#45,902
“enttäuschten” frequency rank
59714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enttäuschend enttäuschten
Definition Partizip Präsens des Verbs enttäuschen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs enttäuscht

Where the eye mixes enttäuschend and enttäuschten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.

12 ch
enttäuschend
12 ch
enttäuschten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enttäuschend is [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩t] while enttäuschten is [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enttäuschend is recorded at frequency rank #13,812, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩t]. enttäuschten is at rank #45,902, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃtn̩].

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 59714, this pair ranks #814,151 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enttäuschend vs enttäuschten

Shared letters: cehnstuä. Private to "enttäuschend": d. Private to "enttäuschten": -.

"enttäuschend" · 12 letters · shape VCCCVVCCCVCC  ·  "enttäuschten" · 12 letters · shape VCCCVVCCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enttäuschend" and "enttäuschten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enttäuschend" is a verb and "enttäuschten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enttäuschend" or "enttäuschten"?
"enttäuschend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,812 in our German list, against #45,902 for "enttäuschten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list