separatevsseparatenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,388
“separate” frequency rank
#20,057
“separaten” frequency rank
39445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature separate separaten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs separat Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs separat

Where the eye mixes separate and separaten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
separate
9 ch
separaten

Look-alike desk: separate vs separaten

A purely visual mix-up. separate ([zepaˈʁaːtə]) and separaten ([zepaˈʁaːtn̩]) 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) - “separate” sits inside “separaten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

separate is recorded at frequency rank #19,388, classified as anadj, pronounced [zepaˈʁaːtə]. separaten is at rank #20,057, tagged as anadj, pronounced [zepaˈʁaːtn̩].

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 39445, this pair ranks #1,536,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of separate vs separaten

Shared letters: aeprst. Private to "separate": -. Private to "separaten": n.

"separate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "separaten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • separateesparate · seaprate · sepaarte · separaet · separatte · separrate · separtae · sepparate
  • separatenesparaten · seapraten · sepaarten · separaetn · separatenn · separatne · separatten · separraten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "separate" for "separaten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([zepaˈʁaːtə] versus [zepaˈʁaːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "separate" or "separaten" show up more?
"separate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,388 in our German list, against #20,057 for "separaten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "separate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "separaten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,536,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "separate" and "separaten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "separaten vs separates". 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 #1,536,599 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