neuntevsneuntenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#18,641
“neunte” frequency rank
#11,488
“neunten” frequency rank
30129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neunte neunten
Definition nach dem beziehungsweise der achten kommend; dem zehnten vorausgehend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs neunte

Where the eye mixes neunte and neunten

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

6 ch
neunte
7 ch
neunten

Visual trap between neunte and neunten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neunte is [ˈnɔɪ̯ntə] while neunten is [ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “neunte” sits inside “neunten”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neunte is recorded at frequency rank #18,641, classified as anum, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ntə]. 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 30129, this pair ranks #1,753,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neunte vs neunten

Shared letters: entu. Private to "neunte": -. Private to "neunten": -.

"neunte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "neunten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neunteenunte · nenute · neunet · neunnte · neuntte · neutne · nneunte · nuente
  • neuntenenunten · nenuten · neunetn · neunnten · neuntenn · neuntne · neuntten · neutnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "neunte" and "neunten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neunte" is a num and "neunten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "neunte" vs "neunten" - which ranks higher?
"neunten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,488 in our German list, against #18,641 for "neunte". 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 "neunte" 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 #1,753,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neunte" and "neunten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Neuner vs neunte". 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 #1,753,848 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