indemvsintimConfusable pair

Quick tell: indem is a conjunction, intim is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indem” is a conjunction and “intim” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#931
“indem” frequency rank
#30,133
“intim” frequency rank
31064
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indem intim
Definition nebensatzeinleitende Konjunktion (= Subjunktion), die das Mittel ausdrückt, das zum Erreichen eines Zwecks eingesetzt wird vertraut, eng verbunden, innerst, innerlichst

Where the eye mixes indem and intim

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
indem
5 ch
intim

Look-alike desk: indem vs intim

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indem is [ɪnˈdeːm] while intim is [ɪnˈtiːm]. 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 (conjunction vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31064, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indem is recorded at frequency rank #931, classified as aconj, pronounced [ɪnˈdeːm]. intim is at rank #30,133, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɪnˈtiːm].

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 31064, this pair ranks #1,735,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indem vs intim

Shared letters: imn. Private to "indem": de. Private to "intim": t.

"indem" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "intim" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indemidnem · inddem · indemm · indme · inedm · inndem · nidem
  • intiminitm · inntim · intimm · intmi · inttim · itnim · nitim

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indem" and "intim" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indem" is a conjunction and "intim" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indem" or "intim"?
"indem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #931 in our German list, against #30,133 for "intim". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "indem" and "intim" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "indem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,735,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indem" and "intim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Interim vs intim". 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 #1,735,529 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