jungvsJüngerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jung is a adjective, Jünger is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,700
“jung” frequency rank
#4,803
“Jünger” frequency rank
6503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jung Jünger
Definition niedrigen Alters einer der zunächst zwölf Männer, die Schüler und Anhänger von Jesus waren und die später als Apostel das Evangelium verkündeten

Where the eye mixes jung and Jünger

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

4 ch
jung
6 ch
Jünger

Why the eye confuses jung with Jünger

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jung is [jʊŋ] while Jünger is [ˈjʏŋɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jung is recorded at frequency rank #1,700, classified as anadj, pronounced [jʊŋ]. Jünger is at rank #4,803, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈjʏŋɐ].

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 6503, this pair ranks #1,991,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jung vs Jünger

Shared letters: gjn. Private to "jung": u. Private to "Jünger": erü.

"jung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Jünger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jungjjung · jnug · jugn · jungg · junng · ujng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "jung" for "Jünger" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jung" is an adjective and "Jünger" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jung" or "Jünger"?
"jung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,700 in our German list, against #4,803 for "Jünger". 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 "jung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Jünger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jung" and "Jünger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Jünger vs jüngeres". 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 #1,991,422 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