JüngervsjüngsterWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,803
“Jünger” frequency rank
#12,741
“jüngster” frequency rank
17544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Jünger jüngster
Definition einer der zunächst zwölf Männer, die Schüler und Anhänger von Jesus waren und die später als Apostel das Evangelium verkündeten Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs jung

Where the eye mixes Jünger and jüngster

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

6 ch
Jünger
8 ch
jüngster

Look-alike desk: Jünger vs jüngster

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Jünger is [ˈjʏŋɐ] while jüngster is [ˈjʏŋstɐ]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Jünger is recorded at frequency rank #4,803, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈjʏŋɐ]. jüngster is at rank #12,741, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈjʏŋstɐ].

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 17544, this pair ranks #1,926,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Jünger vs jüngster

Shared letters: egjnrü. Private to "Jünger": -. Private to "jüngster": st.

"Jünger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "jüngster" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Jünger" and "jüngster" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Jünger" is a noun and "jüngster" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Jünger" or "jüngster" show up more?
"Jünger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,803 in our German list, against #12,741 for "jüngster". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Jünger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jüngster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,926,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Jünger" and "jüngster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Jungfer vs jüngster". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,926,452 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