TomatenvstötetenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#7,826
“Tomaten” frequency rank
#29,826
“töteten” frequency rank
37652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tomaten töteten
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Tomate 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs töten

Where the eye mixes Tomaten and töteten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Tomaten and töteten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Tomaten
7 ch
töteten

Look-alike desk: Tomaten vs töteten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tomaten is [toˈmaːtn̩] while töteten is [ˈtøːtətn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 37652, 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]. töteten is at rank #29,826, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtøːtətn̩].

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 37652, this pair ranks #1,584,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tomaten vs töteten

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

"Tomaten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "töteten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tomaten" for "töteten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tomaten" is a noun and "töteten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Tomaten" or "töteten"?
"Tomaten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,826 in our German list, against #29,826 for "töteten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tomaten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "töteten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,584,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tomaten" and "töteten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tapeten vs töteten". 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 #1,584,566 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