TomatenvstötenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,826
“Tomaten” frequency rank
#3,083
“töten” frequency rank
10909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tomaten töten
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Tomate einem Menschen oder einem Tier gewaltsam das Leben nehmen

Where the eye mixes Tomaten and töten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Tomaten runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against töten's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Tomaten
5 ch
töten

Look-alike desk: Tomaten vs töten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tomaten is [toˈmaːtn̩] while töten is [ˈtøːtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tomaten is recorded at frequency rank #7,826, classified as anoun, pronounced [toˈmaːtn̩]. 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 10909, this pair ranks #1,972,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tomaten vs töten

Shared letters: ent. Private to "Tomaten": amo. Private to "töten": ö.

"Tomaten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "töten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tomaten ← otmaten · tmoaten · toamten · tomaetn · tomatenn · tomatne · tomatten · tommaten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tomaten" for "töten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tomaten" is a noun and "töten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Tomaten" or "töten" show up more?
"töten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,083 in our German list, against #7,826 for "Tomaten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tomaten" 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 #1,972,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tomaten" and "töten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Torben vs töten". 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 #1,972,682 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