patentevsPatentenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: patente is a adjective, Patenten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“patente” is an adjective and “Patenten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,013
“patente” frequency rank
#46,191
“Patenten” frequency rank
64204
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patente Patenten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs patent Dativ Plural des Substantivs Patent

Where the eye mixes patente and Patenten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. patente runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against Patenten's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
patente
8 ch
Patenten

Look-alike desk: patente vs Patenten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: patente is [paˈtɛntə] while Patenten is [paˈtɛntn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “patente” sits inside “Patenten”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patente is recorded at frequency rank #18,013, classified as anadj, pronounced [paˈtɛntə]. Patenten is at rank #46,191, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈtɛntn̩].

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 64204, this pair ranks #649,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patente vs Patenten

Shared letters: aenpt. Private to "patente": -. Private to "Patenten": -.

"patente" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "Patenten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patenteaptente · paetnte · patenet · patennte · patentte · patetne · patnete · pattente
  • Patentenaptenten · paetnten · patenetn · patennten · patentenn · patentne · patentten · patetnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "patente" and "Patenten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "patente" is an adjective and "Patenten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "patente" vs "Patenten" - which ranks higher?
"patente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,013 in our German list, against #46,191 for "Patenten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "patente" and "Patenten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Patenten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #649,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patente" and "Patenten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paletten vs Patenten". 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 #649,832 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