neuenvsneuntenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#216
“neuen” frequency rank
#11,488
“neunten” frequency rank
11704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neuen neunten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs neu Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs neunte

Where the eye mixes neuen and neunten

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

5 ch
neuen
7 ch
neunten

Look-alike desk: neuen vs neunten

A purely visual mix-up. neuen ([ˈnɔɪ̯ən]) and neunten ([ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neuen is recorded at frequency rank #216, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ən]. 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 11704, this pair ranks #1,968,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neuen vs neunten

Shared letters: enu. Private to "neuen": -. Private to "neunten": t.

"neuen" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "neunten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neuenenuen · neeun · neuenn · neune · nneuen · nueen
  • neuntenenunten · nenuten · neunetn · neunnten · neuntenn · neuntne · neuntten · neutnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "neuen" for "neunten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɔɪ̯ən] versus [ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "neuen" or "neunten"?
"neuen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #216 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "neuen" 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 #1,968,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neuen" 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 #1,968,391 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