purevspurenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,122
“pure” frequency rank
#35,969
“puren” frequency rank
44091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pure puren
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs pur Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs pur

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pure and puren apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pure
5 ch
puren

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pure ([ˈpuːʁə]) and puren ([ˈpuːʁən]) 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) - “pure” sits inside “puren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pure is recorded at frequency rank #8,122, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpuːʁə]. puren is at rank #35,969, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpuːʁən].

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 44091, this pair ranks #1,397,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pure vs puren

Shared letters: epru. Private to "pure": -. Private to "puren": n.

"pure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "puren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pureppure · prue · puer · purre · upre
  • purenppuren · pruen · puern · purenn · purne · purren · upren

Frequency comparison

pure#8,122
puren#35,969

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pure" and "puren" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpuːʁə] versus [ˈpuːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pure" or "puren"?
"pure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,122 in our German list, against #35,969 for "puren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pure vs puren

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pure” 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