unschönvsunschönenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,751
“unschön” frequency rank
#42,209
“unschönen” frequency rank
65960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unschön unschönen
Definition nicht schön, nicht gefällig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs unschön

Where the eye mixes unschön and unschönen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. unschön runs 7 letters (VCCCCVC) against unschönen's 9 (VCCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
unschön
9 ch
unschönen

Why the eye confuses unschön with unschönen

A purely visual mix-up. unschön ([ˈʊnʃøːn]) and unschönen ([ˈʊnʃøːnən]) 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) - “unschön” sits inside “unschönen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unschön is recorded at frequency rank #23,751, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʃøːn]. unschönen is at rank #42,209, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʃøːnən].

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 65960, this pair ranks #589,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unschön vs unschönen

Shared letters: chnsuö. Private to "unschön": -. Private to "unschönen": e.

"unschön" · 7 letters · shape VCCCCVC  ·  "unschönen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "unschön" for "unschönen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnʃøːn] versus [ˈʊnʃøːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "unschön" or "unschönen" show up more?
"unschön" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,751 in our German list, against #42,209 for "unschönen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "unschön" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unschönen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #589,200 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unschön" and "unschönen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unschöne vs unschönen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #589,200 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