senkrechtvssenkrechtenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,928
“senkrecht” frequency rank
#34,904
“senkrechten” frequency rank
49832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature senkrecht senkrechten
Definition in einer geraden Linie von unten nach oben oder von oben nach unten verlaufend, in einem Winkel von 90 Grad auf die (idealisierte) Erdoberfläche gerichtet sein Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs senkrecht

Where the eye mixes senkrecht and senkrechten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. senkrecht runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCCC) against senkrechten's 11 (CVCCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
senkrecht
11 ch
senkrechten

Look-alike desk: senkrecht vs senkrechten

A purely visual mix-up. senkrecht ([ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçt]) and senkrechten ([ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçtn̩]) 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) - “senkrecht” sits inside “senkrechten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

senkrecht is recorded at frequency rank #14,928, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçt]. senkrechten is at rank #34,904, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçtn̩].

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 49832, this pair ranks #1,196,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of senkrecht vs senkrechten

Shared letters: cehknrst. Private to "senkrecht": -. Private to "senkrechten": -.

"senkrecht" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCC  ·  "senkrechten" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • senkrecht ← esnkrecht · seknrecht · senkercht · senkkrecht · senkrceht · senkreccht · senkrechht · senkrechtt
  • senkrechten ← esnkrechten · seknrechten · senkerchten · senkkrechten · senkrcehten · senkrecchten · senkrechetn · senkrechhten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "senkrecht" and "senkrechten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçt] versus [ˈzɛŋkˌʁɛçtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "senkrecht" or "senkrechten" show up more?
"senkrecht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,928 in our German list, against #34,904 for "senkrechten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "senkrecht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "senkrechten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,196,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "senkrecht" and "senkrechten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senkrechte vs senkrechten". 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 #1,196,650 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