untenvsuntreuTell them apart

Quick tell: unten is a adverb, untreu is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“unten” is an adverb and “untreu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#847
“unten” frequency rank
#38,475
“untreu” frequency rank
39322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unten untreu
Definition an einer tief gelegener Stelle/Ort mit anderen sexuelle Beziehungen unterhaltend

Where the eye mixes unten and untreu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. unten runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against untreu's 6 (VCCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
unten
6 ch
untreu

Visual trap between unten and untreu

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unten is [ˈʊntn̩] while untreu is [ˈʊntʁɔɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unten is recorded at frequency rank #847, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈʊntn̩]. untreu is at rank #38,475, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊntʁɔɪ̯].

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 39322, this pair ranks #1,539,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of unten vs untreu

Shared letters: entu. Private to "unten": -. Private to "untreu": r.

"unten" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "untreu" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unten ← nuten · unetn · unnten · untenn · untne · untten · utnen
  • untreu ← nutreu · unntreu · unrteu · unteru · untrreu · untrue · unttreu · utnreu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "unten" for "untreu" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "unten" is an adverb and "untreu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "unten" vs "untreu" - which ranks higher?
"unten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #847 in our German list, against #38,475 for "untreu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "unten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "untreu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,539,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unten" and "untreu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unteres vs untreu". 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 #1,539,984 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