künftigvskünftigenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,466
“künftig” frequency rank
#7,498
“künftigen” frequency rank
10964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature künftig künftigen
Definition zukünftig, bald eintretend oder vorhanden, in der Zukunft kommend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs künftig

Where the eye mixes künftig and künftigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
künftig
9 ch
künftigen

Look-alike desk: künftig vs künftigen

A purely visual mix-up. künftig ([ˈkʏnftɪç]) and künftigen ([ˈkʏnftɪɡn̩]) 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) - “künftig” sits inside “künftigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10964, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

künftig is recorded at frequency rank #3,466, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏnftɪç]. künftigen is at rank #7,498, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkʏnftɪɡn̩].

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 10964, this pair ranks #1,972,403 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of künftig vs künftigen

Shared letters: fgikntü. Private to "künftig": -. Private to "künftigen": e.

"künftig" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "künftigen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "künftig" and "künftigen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkʏnftɪç] versus [ˈkʏnftɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "künftig" or "künftigen"?
"künftig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,466 in our German list, against #7,498 for "künftigen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "künftig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "künftigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,972,403 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "künftig" and "künftigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kantig vs künftig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,972,403 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