indirektvsindirektenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,672
“indirekt” frequency rank
#22,025
“indirekten” frequency rank
28697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indirekt indirekten
Definition mit Umweg, unter Zuhilfenahme eines (Hilfs-)Mittels Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs indirekt

Where the eye mixes indirekt and indirekten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. indirekt runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCC) against indirekten's 10 (VCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
indirekt
10 ch
indirekten

Visual trap between indirekt and indirekten

A purely visual mix-up. indirekt ([ˈɪndiˌʁɛkt]) and indirekten ([ˈɪndiˌʁɛktn̩]) 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) - “indirekt” sits inside “indirekten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indirekt is recorded at frequency rank #6,672, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪndiˌʁɛkt]. indirekten is at rank #22,025, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪndiˌʁɛktn̩].

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 28697, this pair ranks #1,780,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indirekt vs indirekten

Shared letters: deiknrt. Private to "indirekt": -. Private to "indirekten": -.

"indirekt" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "indirekten" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indirekt ← idnirekt · inddirekt · indierkt · indirekkt · indirektt · indiretk · indirket · indirrekt
  • indirekten ← idnirekten · inddirekten · indierkten · indireketn · indirekkten · indirektenn · indirektne · indirektten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indirekt" and "indirekten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɪndiˌʁɛkt] versus [ˈɪndiˌʁɛktn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "indirekt" or "indirekten" show up more?
"indirekt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,672 in our German list, against #22,025 for "indirekten". 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 "indirekt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indirekten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,780,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indirekt" and "indirekten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indirekten vs indirekter". 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 #1,780,171 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