glühendevsglühenderConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#36,370
“glühende” frequency rank
#49,746
“glühender” frequency rank
86116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature glühende glühender
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs glühend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs glühend

Where the eye mixes glühende and glühender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. glühende runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against glühender's 9 (CCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
glühende
9 ch
glühender

Why the eye confuses glühende with glühender

A purely visual mix-up. glühende ([ˈɡlyːəndə]) and glühender ([ˈɡlyːəndɐ]) 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) - “glühende” sits inside “glühender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

glühende is recorded at frequency rank #36,370, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡlyːəndə]. glühender is at rank #49,746, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡlyːəndɐ].

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 86116, this pair ranks #98,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of glühende vs glühender

Shared letters: deghlnü. Private to "glühende": -. Private to "glühender": r.

"glühende" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV  ·  "glühender" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "glühende" for "glühender" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡlyːəndə] versus [ˈɡlyːəndɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "glühende" vs "glühender" - which ranks higher?
"glühende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,370 in our German list, against #49,746 for "glühender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "glühende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "glühender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #98,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "glühende" and "glühender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glühenden vs glühender". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #98,399 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