spannendenvsSpannungenTell them apart

Quick tell: spannenden is a adjective, Spannungen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“spannenden” is an adjective and “Spannungen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,176
“spannenden” frequency rank
#8,279
“Spannungen” frequency rank
18455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature spannenden Spannungen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs spannend Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Spannung

Where the eye mixes spannenden and Spannungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. spannenden and Spannungen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
spannenden
10 ch
Spannungen

Visual trap between spannenden and Spannungen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spannenden is [ˈʃpanəndn̩] while Spannungen is [ˈʃpanʊŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

spannenden is recorded at frequency rank #10,176, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃpanəndn̩]. Spannungen is at rank #8,279, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃpanʊŋən].

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 18455, this pair ranks #1,918,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of spannenden vs Spannungen

Shared letters: aenps. Private to "spannenden": d. Private to "Spannungen": gu.

"spannenden" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCCVC  ·  "Spannungen" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spannenden ← psannenden · sapnnenden · spanenden · spanennden · spannednen · spannendden · spannendenn · spannendne
  • Spannungen ← psannungen · sapnnungen · spannnugen · spannugnen · spannunegn · spannungenn · spannunggen · spannungne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "spannenden" for "Spannungen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "spannenden" is an adjective and "Spannungen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "spannenden" or "Spannungen"?
"Spannungen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,279 in our German list, against #10,176 for "spannenden". 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 "spannenden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Spannungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,918,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "spannenden" and "Spannungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spannenden vs spannendsten". 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 #1,918,067 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