InsektenvsintaktenTell them apart

Quick tell: Insekten is a noun, intakten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Insekten” is a noun and “intakten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,070
“Insekten” frequency rank
#37,590
“intakten” frequency rank
44660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Insekten intakten
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Insekt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs intakt

Where the eye mixes Insekten and intakten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Insekten and intakten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Insekten
8 ch
intakten

Why the eye confuses Insekten with intakten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Insekten is [ɪnˈzɛktn̩] while intakten is [ɪnˈtaktn̩]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Insekten is recorded at frequency rank #7,070, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɪnˈzɛktn̩]. intakten is at rank #37,590, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɪnˈtaktn̩].

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 44660, this pair ranks #1,378,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Insekten vs intakten

Shared letters: eiknt. Private to "Insekten": s. Private to "intakten": a.

"Insekten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "intakten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Insektenineskten · innsekten · inseketn · insekkten · insektenn · insektne · insektten · insetken
  • intakteninatkten · inntakten · intaketn · intakkten · intaktenn · intaktne · intaktten · intatken

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Insekten" and "intakten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Insekten" is a noun and "intakten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Insekten" or "intakten"?
"Insekten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,070 in our German list, against #37,590 for "intakten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Insekten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intakten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,378,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Insekten" and "intakten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intakte vs intakten". 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 #1,378,956 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