ordernvsOrtenTell them apart

Quick tell: ordern is a verb, Orten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ordern” is a verb and “Orten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,714
“ordern” frequency rank
#3,064
“Orten” frequency rank
40778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ordern Orten
Definition einen Auftrag (eine Order) erteilen; etwas bestellen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Ort

Where the eye mixes ordern and Orten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ordern runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against Orten's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ordern
5 ch
Orten

Why the eye confuses ordern with Orten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ordern is [ˈɔʁdɐn] while Orten is [ˈɔʁtn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ordern is recorded at frequency rank #37,714, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɔʁdɐn]. Orten is at rank #3,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔʁtn̩].

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 40778, this pair ranks #1,498,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ordern vs Orten

Shared letters: enor. Private to "ordern": d. Private to "Orten": t.

"ordern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "Orten" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ordern ← odrern · orddern · ordernn · orderrn · ordren · oredrn · orrdern · rodern
  • Orten ← oretn · orrten · ortenn · ortne · ortten · otren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ordern" and "Orten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ordern" is a verb and "Orten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ordern" or "Orten" show up more?
"Orten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,064 in our German list, against #37,714 for "ordern". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ordern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Orten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,498,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ordern" and "Orten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ordern vs orders". 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 #1,498,565 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