Which to use
“stinken” is a verb and “stinkende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,520
- “stinken” frequency rank
- #44,254
- “stinkende” frequency rank
- 66774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stinken | stinkende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (sehr) übel schlecht riechen, üblen Geruch verbreiten | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stinkend |
Where the eye mixes stinken and stinkende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. stinken runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against stinkende's 9 (CCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: stinken vs stinkende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stinken is [ˈʃtɪŋkn̩] while stinkende is [ˈʃtɪŋkn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “stinken” sits inside “stinkende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stinken is recorded at frequency rank #22,520, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɪŋkn̩]. stinkende is at rank #44,254, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtɪŋkn̩də].
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 66774, this pair ranks #561,981 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stinken vs stinkende
Shared letters: eiknst. Private to "stinken": -. Private to "stinkende": d.
"stinken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "stinkende" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "stinken" and "stinkende" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "stinken" or "stinkende" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stinken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stinkende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #561,981 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stinken" and "stinkende" 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 #561,981 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.