tönenvsTypenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,500
“tönen” frequency rank
#1,994
“Typen” frequency rank
15494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tönen Typen
Definition hörbar sein Nebenform des Dativ Singular des Substantivs Typ

Where the eye mixes tönen and Typen

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

5 ch
tönen
5 ch
Typen

Visual trap between tönen and Typen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tönen is [ˈtøːnən] while Typen is [ˈtyːpən]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tönen is recorded at frequency rank #13,500, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtøːnən]. Typen is at rank #1,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtyːpən].

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 15494, this pair ranks #1,943,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tönen vs Typen

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tönen": ö. Private to "Typen": py.

"tönen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Typen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Typentpyen · ttypen · tyepn · typenn · typne · typpen · tyypen · ytpen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tönen" for "Typen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tönen" is a verb and "Typen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tönen" vs "Typen" - which ranks higher?
"Typen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,994 in our German list, against #13,500 for "tönen". 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 "tönen" and "Typen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tönen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Typen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,943,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tönen" and "Typen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs tönen". 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 #1,943,432 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