passendemvspassenderWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,143
“passendem” frequency rank
#14,890
“passender” frequency rank
64033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passendem passender
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs passend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs passend

Where the eye mixes passendem and passender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
passendem
9 ch
passender

Look-alike desk: passendem vs passender

A purely visual mix-up. passendem ([ˈpasn̩dəm]) and passender ([ˈpasn̩dɐ]) 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 - m in “passendem” becomes r in “passender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passendem is recorded at frequency rank #49,143, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpasn̩dəm]. passender is at rank #14,890, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpasn̩dɐ].

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 64033, this pair ranks #655,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of passendem vs passender

Shared letters: adenps. Private to "passendem": m. Private to "passender": r.

"passendem" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "passender" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passendemapssendem · pasendem · pasesndem · passednem · passenddem · passendemm · passendme · passenedm
  • passenderapssender · pasender · pasesnder · passedner · passendder · passenderr · passendre · passenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passendem" and "passender" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpasn̩dəm] versus [ˈpasn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "passendem" or "passender" show up more?
"passender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,890 in our German list, against #49,143 for "passendem". 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 "passendem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "passender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #655,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "passendem" and "passender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passendem vs passendes". 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 #655,751 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