offenevsöffnenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: offene is a adjective, öffnen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,672
“offene” frequency rank
#2,007
“öffnen” frequency rank
4679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature offene öffnen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs offen etwas aufmachen; offen machen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set offene and öffnen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
offene
6 ch
öffnen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

offene and öffnen form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

offene is recorded at frequency rank #2,672, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔfənə]. öffnen is at rank #2,007, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈœfnən].

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 4679, this pair ranks #1,997,022 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

offene#2,672
öffnen#2,007

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "offene" and "öffnen" be used interchangeably?
No, "offene" and "öffnen" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering offene vs öffnen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “offene”; for a verb, it's “öffnen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “offene” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list