TitanvstötenTell them apart

Quick tell: Titan is a noun, töten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Titan” is a noun and “töten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,253
“Titan” frequency rank
#3,083
“töten” frequency rank
16336
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Titan töten
Definition chemisches Element mit der Ordnungszahl 22, das zur Serie der Übergangsmetalle gehört einem Menschen oder einem Tier gewaltsam das Leben nehmen

Where the eye mixes Titan and töten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Titan
5 ch
töten

Why the eye confuses Titan with töten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Titan is [tiˈtaːn] while töten is [ˈtøːtn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Titan is recorded at frequency rank #13,253, classified as anoun, pronounced [tiˈtaːn]. töten is at rank #3,083, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtøːtn̩].

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 16336, this pair ranks #1,936,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Titan vs töten

Shared letters: nt. Private to "Titan": ai. Private to "töten": .

"Titan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "töten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Titanittan · tiatn · titann · titna · tittan · ttian · ttitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Titan" for "töten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Titan" is a noun and "töten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Titan" vs "töten" - which ranks higher?
"töten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,083 in our German list, against #13,253 for "Titan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Titan" and "töten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Titan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "töten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,936,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Titan" and "töten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Titan vs Titans". 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 #1,936,682 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