neuntenvsneustenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,488
“neunten” frequency rank
#13,448
“neusten” frequency rank
24936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neunten neusten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs neunte Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs neu

Where the eye mixes neunten and neusten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. neunten and neusten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
neunten
7 ch
neusten

Visual trap between neunten and neusten

A purely visual mix-up. neunten ([ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]) and neusten ([ˈnɔɪ̯stn̩]) 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 a single letter - n in “neunten” becomes s in “neusten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neunten is recorded at frequency rank #11,488, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩]. neusten is at rank #13,448, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯stn̩].

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 24936, this pair ranks #1,840,472 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neunten vs neusten

Shared letters: entu. Private to "neunten": -. Private to "neusten": s.

"neunten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "neusten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neuntenenunten · nenuten · neunetn · neunnten · neuntenn · neuntne · neuntten · neutnen
  • neustenenusten · nesuten · neusetn · neussten · neustenn · neustne · neustten · neutsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "neunten" for "neusten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɔɪ̯ntn̩] versus [ˈnɔɪ̯stn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "neunten" or "neusten" show up more?
"neunten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,488 in our German list, against #13,448 for "neusten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "neunten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neusten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,840,472 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neunten" and "neusten" 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 #1,840,472 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