findevsfindenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“finde” and “finden” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#431
“finde” frequency rank
#228
“finden” frequency rank
659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature finde finden
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs finden etwas oder jemanden durch Suchen oder durch Zufall entdecken, sehen

Where the eye mixes finde and finden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
finde
6 ch
finden

Look-alike desk: finde vs finden

A purely visual mix-up. finde ([ˈfɪndə]) and finden ([ˈfɪndn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “finde” sits inside “finden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

finde is recorded at frequency rank #431, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfɪndə]. finden is at rank #228, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfɪndn̩].

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 659, this pair ranks #2,005,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of finde vs finden

Shared letters: defin. Private to "finde": -. Private to "finden": -.

"finde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "finden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • findeffinde · fidne · findde · fined · finnde · fnide · ifnde
  • findenffinden · fidnen · findden · findenn · findne · finedn · finnden · fniden

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "finde" and "finden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɪndə] versus [ˈfɪndn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "finde" vs "finden" - which ranks higher?
"finden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #228 in our German list, against #431 for "finde". 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 "finde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "finden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "finde" and "finden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fahnden vs finden". 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 #2,005,542 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