mittelsvsmittenTell them apart

Quick tell: mittels is a preposition, mitten is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mittels” is a preposition and “mitten” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,255
“mittels” frequency rank
#1,817
“mitten” frequency rank
4072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mittels mitten
Definition mit dem … [im Genitiv folgenden Gegenstand] als Mittel in der Mitte, in die Mitte

Where the eye mixes mittels and mitten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mittels runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against mitten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
mittels
6 ch
mitten

Look-alike desk: mittels vs mitten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mittels is [ˈmɪtl̩s] while mitten is [ˈmɪtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mittels is recorded at frequency rank #2,255, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈmɪtl̩s]. mitten is at rank #1,817, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈmɪtn̩].

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 4072, this pair ranks #1,998,653 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mittels vs mitten

Shared letters: eimt. Private to "mittels": ls. Private to "mitten": n.

"mittels" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "mitten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mittels ← imttels · mitels · mitetls · mittells · mittelss · mittesl · mittles · mmittels
  • mitten ← imtten · miten · mitetn · mittenn · mittne · mmitten · mtiten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mittels" and "mitten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mittels" is a preposition and "mitten" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mittels" or "mitten" show up more?
"mitten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,817 in our German list, against #2,255 for "mittels". 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 "mittels" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mitten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,653 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mittels" and "mitten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mittellos vs mittels". 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 #1,998,653 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