modernvsmüdenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,450
“modern” frequency rank
#27,858
“müden” frequency rank
32308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modern müden
Definition der Zeit entsprechend, neuzeitlich Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs müde

Where the eye mixes modern and müden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
modern
5 ch
müden

Why the eye confuses modern with müden

A purely visual mix-up. modern ([moˈdɛʁn]) and müden ([ˈmyːdn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modern is recorded at frequency rank #4,450, classified as anadj, pronounced [moˈdɛʁn]. müden is at rank #27,858, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmyːdn̩].

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 32308, this pair ranks #1,710,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of modern vs müden

Shared letters: demn. Private to "modern": or. Private to "müden": ü.

"modern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "müden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modernmdoern · mmodern · moddern · modenr · modernn · moderrn · modren · moedrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modern" for "müden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([moˈdɛʁn] versus [ˈmyːdn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "modern" or "müden"?
"modern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,450 in our German list, against #27,858 for "müden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "modern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "müden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,710,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modern" and "müden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen vs müden". 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 #1,710,397 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