TafelnvsTäternWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,989
“Tafeln” frequency rank
#16,304
“Tätern” frequency rank
26293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tafeln Tätern
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Tafel Dativ Plural des Substantivs Täter

Where the eye mixes Tafeln and Tätern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Tafeln and Tätern follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Tafeln
6 ch
Tätern

Visual trap between Tafeln and Tätern

A purely visual mix-up. Tafeln ([ˈtaːfl̩n]) and Tätern ([ˈtɛːtɐn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tafeln is recorded at frequency rank #9,989, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaːfl̩n]. Tätern is at rank #16,304, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtɛːtɐn].

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 26293, this pair ranks #1,820,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tafeln vs Tätern

Shared letters: ent. Private to "Tafeln": afl. Private to "Tätern": rä.

"Tafeln" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Tätern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tafeln ← atfeln · taefln · tafelln · tafelnn · tafenl · taffeln · taflen · tfaeln

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tafeln" for "Tätern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtaːfl̩n] versus [ˈtɛːtɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Tafeln" or "Tätern"?
"Tafeln" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,989 in our German list, against #16,304 for "Tätern". 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 "Tafeln" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tätern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,820,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tafeln" and "Tätern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tätern vs Taxen". 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 #1,820,315 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