pikantvspikanteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,958
“pikant” frequency rank
#48,385
“pikante” frequency rank
98343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pikant pikante
Definition gut oder kräftig gewürzt, scharf Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs pikant

Where the eye mixes pikant and pikante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pikant runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against pikante's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pikant
7 ch
pikante

Why the eye confuses pikant with pikante

A purely visual mix-up. pikant ([piˈkant]) and pikante ([piˈkantə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “pikant” sits inside “pikante”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 98343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pikant is recorded at frequency rank #49,958, classified as anadj, pronounced [piˈkant]. pikante is at rank #48,385, tagged as anadj, pronounced [piˈkantə].

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 98343, this pair ranks #1,590 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pikant vs pikante

Shared letters: aiknpt. Private to "pikant": -. Private to "pikante": e.

"pikant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "pikante" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pikant ← ipkant · piaknt · pikannt · pikantt · pikatn · pikkant · piknat · pkiant
  • pikante ← ipkante · piaknte · pikanet · pikannte · pikantte · pikatne · pikkante · piknate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pikant" and "pikante" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([piˈkant] versus [piˈkantə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pikant" or "pikante"?
"pikante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #48,385 in our German list, against #49,958 for "pikant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pikant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pikante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pikant" and "pikante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pikant vs Pirat". 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 #1,590 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