tippevstippenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,952
“tippe” frequency rank
#11,132
“tippen” frequency rank
26084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tippe tippen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tippen es kurz mit dem Finger, einem Stock oder Ähnlichem berühren

Where the eye mixes tippe and tippen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tippe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tippen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tippe
6 ch
tippen

Look-alike desk: tippe vs tippen

A purely visual mix-up. tippe ([ˈtɪpə]) and tippen ([ˈtɪpn̩]) 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) - “tippe” sits inside “tippen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tippe is recorded at frequency rank #14,952, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtɪpə]. tippen is at rank #11,132, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtɪpn̩].

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 26084, this pair ranks #1,823,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tippe vs tippen

Shared letters: eipt. Private to "tippe": -. Private to "tippen": n.

"tippe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tippen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tippe ← itppe · tipe · tipep · tpipe · ttippe
  • tippen ← itppen · tipen · tipepn · tippenn · tippne · tpipen · ttippen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tippe" and "tippen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtɪpə] versus [ˈtɪpn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "tippe" or "tippen" show up more?
"tippen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,132 in our German list, against #14,952 for "tippe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tippe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tippen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,823,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tippe" and "tippen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tippe vs tripp". 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 #1,823,405 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