offenenvsöffnetenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,213
“offenen” frequency rank
#25,857
“öffneten” frequency rank
28070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature offenen öffneten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs offen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs öffnen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set offenen and öffneten apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
offenen
8 ch
öffneten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: offenen is [ˈɔfənən] while öffneten is [ˈœfnətn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

offenen is recorded at frequency rank #2,213, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔfənən]. öffneten is at rank #25,857, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈœfnətn̩].

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 28070, this pair ranks #1,791,068 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of offenen vs öffneten

Shared letters: efn. Private to "offenen": o. Private to "öffneten": .

"offenen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "öffneten" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • offenenfofenen · ofefnen · ofenen · offeenn · offenenn · offenne · offennen · offneen

Frequency comparison

offenen#2,213
öffneten#25,857

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "offenen" and "öffneten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "offenen" is an adjective and "öffneten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "offenen" or "öffneten"?
"offenen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,213 in our German list, against #25,857 for "öffneten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering offenen vs öffneten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “offenen”; for a verb, it's “öffneten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “offenen” 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