nennenvsneuntenTell them apart

Quick tell: nennen is a verb, neunten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nennen” is a verb and “neunten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,065
“nennen” frequency rank
#11,488
“neunten” frequency rank
12553
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nennen neunten
Definition jemandem oder etwas einen Namen geben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs neunte

Where the eye mixes nennen and neunten

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

6 ch
nennen
7 ch
neunten

Look-alike desk: nennen vs neunten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nennen is [ˈnɛnən] while neunten is [ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nennen is recorded at frequency rank #1,065, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnɛnən]. neunten is at rank #11,488, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩].

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 12553, this pair ranks #1,963,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nennen vs neunten

Shared letters: en. Private to "nennen": -. Private to "neunten": tu.

"nennen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "neunten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nennenennnen · nenen · nenenn · nennenn · nennne · nnenen · nnennen
  • neuntenenunten · nenuten · neunetn · neunnten · neuntenn · neuntne · neuntten · neutnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nennen" and "neunten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nennen" is a verb and "neunten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nennen" or "neunten"?
"nennen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,065 in our German list, against #11,488 for "neunten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nennen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neunten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,963,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nennen" and "neunten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Neuner vs neunten". 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 #1,963,480 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