Which to use
“selten” and “seltenen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #911
- “selten” frequency rank
- #8,622
- “seltenen” frequency rank
- 9533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | selten | seltenen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nur in geringen Mengen vorhanden | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs selten |
Where the eye mixes selten and seltenen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. selten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against seltenen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: selten vs seltenen
A purely visual mix-up. selten ([ˈzɛltn̩]) and seltenen ([ˈzɛltənən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “selten” sits inside “seltenen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
selten is recorded at frequency rank #911, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltn̩]. seltenen is at rank #8,622, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛltənən].
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 9533, this pair ranks #1,979,488 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of selten vs seltenen
Shared letters: elnst. Private to "selten": -. Private to "seltenen": -.
"selten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "seltenen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "selten" and "seltenen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "selten" or "seltenen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "selten" and "seltenen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "selten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "seltenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,979,488 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "selten" and "seltenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "selten vs Stuten". 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 #1,979,488 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.