häufigvshäufigenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#813
“häufig” frequency rank
#17,939
“häufigen” frequency rank
18752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature häufig häufigen
Definition vielfach vorkommend, viele Male, immer wieder auftretend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs häufig

Where the eye mixes häufig and häufigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. häufig runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against häufigen's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
häufig
8 ch
häufigen

Look-alike desk: häufig vs häufigen

A purely visual mix-up. häufig ([ˈhɔɪ̯fɪç]) and häufigen ([ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “häufig” sits inside “häufigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

häufig is recorded at frequency rank #813, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯fɪç]. häufigen is at rank #17,939, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡn̩].

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 18752, this pair ranks #1,915,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of häufig vs häufigen

Shared letters: fghiuä. Private to "häufig": -. Private to "häufigen": en.

"häufig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "häufigen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "häufig" for "häufigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɔɪ̯fɪç] versus [ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "häufig" or "häufigen" show up more?
"häufig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #813 in our German list, against #17,939 for "häufigen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "häufig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "häufigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,915,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "häufig" and "häufigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "häufigen vs heurigen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,915,245 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