sinkendevssinkenderWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,061
“sinkende” frequency rank
#38,412
“sinkender” frequency rank
59473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sinkende sinkender
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sinkend Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs sinkend

Where the eye mixes sinkende and sinkender

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

8 ch
sinkende
9 ch
sinkender

Why the eye confuses sinkende with sinkender

A purely visual mix-up. sinkende ([ˈzɪŋkn̩də]) and sinkender ([ˈzɪŋkn̩dɐ]) 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) - “sinkende” sits inside “sinkender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sinkende is recorded at frequency rank #21,061, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɪŋkn̩də]. sinkender is at rank #38,412, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈzɪŋkn̩dɐ].

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 59473, this pair ranks #823,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sinkende vs sinkender

Shared letters: deikns. Private to "sinkende": -. Private to "sinkender": r.

"sinkende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "sinkender" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sinkendeisnkende · siknende · sineknde · sinkedne · sinkendde · sinkened · sinkennde · sinkkende
  • sinkenderisnkender · siknender · sineknder · sinkedner · sinkendder · sinkenderr · sinkendre · sinkenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sinkende" for "sinkender" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈzɪŋkn̩də] versus [ˈzɪŋkn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sinkende" vs "sinkender" - which ranks higher?
"sinkende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,061 in our German list, against #38,412 for "sinkender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sinkende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sinkender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #823,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sinkende" and "sinkender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sinkender vs stinkende". 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 #823,252 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