umstrittenvsumstrittenenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,834
“umstritten” frequency rank
#14,959
“umstrittenen” frequency rank
22793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature umstritten umstrittenen
Definition ohne Übereinstimmung/Zustimmung aller Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs umstritten

Where the eye mixes umstritten and umstrittenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. umstritten runs 10 letters (VCCCCVCCVC) against umstrittenen's 12 (VCCCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
umstritten
12 ch
umstrittenen

Visual trap between umstritten and umstrittenen

A purely visual mix-up. umstritten ([ʊmˈʃtʁɪtn̩]) and umstrittenen ([ʊmˈʃtʁɪtənən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “umstritten” sits inside “umstrittenen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

umstritten is recorded at frequency rank #7,834, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʊmˈʃtʁɪtn̩]. umstrittenen is at rank #14,959, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʊmˈʃtʁɪtənən].

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 22793, this pair ranks #1,869,690 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of umstritten vs umstrittenen

Shared letters: eimnrstu. Private to "umstritten": -. Private to "umstrittenen": -.

"umstritten" · 10 letters · shape VCCCCVCCVC  ·  "umstrittenen" · 12 letters · shape VCCCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • umstritten ← mustritten · ummstritten · umsrtitten · umsstritten · umstirtten · umstriten · umstritetn · umstrittenn
  • umstrittenen ← mustrittenen · ummstrittenen · umsrtittenen · umsstrittenen · umstirttenen · umstritenen · umstritetnen · umstritteenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "umstritten" and "umstrittenen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʊmˈʃtʁɪtn̩] versus [ʊmˈʃtʁɪtənən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "umstritten" or "umstrittenen"?
"umstritten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,834 in our German list, against #14,959 for "umstrittenen". 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 "umstritten" and "umstrittenen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "umstritten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "umstrittenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,869,690 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "umstritten" and "umstrittenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "umstrittenen vs umstrittenes". 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 #1,869,690 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