tätigevstätigenTell them apart

Quick tell: tätige is a adjective, tätigen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tätige” is an adjective and “tätigen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,571
“tätige” frequency rank
#8,799
“tätigen” frequency rank
25370
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tätige tätigen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tätig etwas in die Tat umsetzen, eine bestimmte Handlung vollziehen

Where the eye mixes tätige and tätigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. tätige runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against tätigen's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tätige
7 ch
tätigen

Look-alike desk: tätige vs tätigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tätige is [ˈtɛːtɪɡə] while tätigen is [ˈtɛːtɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tätige” sits inside “tätigen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tätige is recorded at frequency rank #16,571, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɛːtɪɡə]. tätigen is at rank #8,799, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtɛːtɪɡn̩].

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 25370, this pair ranks #1,834,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tätige vs tätigen

Shared letters: egitä. Private to "tätige": -. Private to "tätigen": n.

"tätige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tätigen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tätige" and "tätigen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tätige" is an adjective and "tätigen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tätige" or "tätigen" show up more?
"tätigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,799 in our German list, against #16,571 for "tätige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tätige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tätigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,834,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tätige" and "tätigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tätige vs tätiger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,834,314 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