enttäuschendenvsEnttäuschungenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,781
“enttäuschenden” frequency rank
#24,696
“Enttäuschungen” frequency rank
66477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enttäuschenden Enttäuschungen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs enttäuschend Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Enttäuschung

Where the eye mixes enttäuschenden and Enttäuschungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. enttäuschenden and Enttäuschungen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVVCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

14 ch
enttäuschenden
14 ch
Enttäuschungen

Look-alike desk: enttäuschenden vs Enttäuschungen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enttäuschenden is [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩dən] while Enttäuschungen is [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃʊŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enttäuschenden is recorded at frequency rank #41,781, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃn̩dən]. Enttäuschungen is at rank #24,696, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɛntˈtɔɪ̯ʃʊŋən].

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 66477, this pair ranks #571,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enttäuschenden vs Enttäuschungen

Shared letters: cehnstuä. Private to "enttäuschenden": d. Private to "Enttäuschungen": g.

"enttäuschenden" · 14 letters · shape VCCCVVCCCVCCVC  ·  "Enttäuschungen" · 14 letters · shape VCCCVVCCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enttäuschenden" and "Enttäuschungen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enttäuschenden" is an adjective and "Enttäuschungen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enttäuschenden" or "Enttäuschungen"?
"Enttäuschungen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,696 in our German list, against #41,781 for "enttäuschenden". 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 "enttäuschenden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Enttäuschungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #571,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enttäuschenden" and "Enttäuschungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enttäuschend vs enttäuschenden". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #571,909 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