UrnevsUrnenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,739
“Urne” frequency rank
#32,832
“Urnen” frequency rank
51571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Urne Urnen
Definition Behältnis, in dem die Asche einer verbrannten Person aufbewahrt wird Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Urne

Where the eye mixes Urne and Urnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Urne
5 ch
Urnen

Visual trap between Urne and Urnen

A purely visual mix-up. Urne ([ˈʊʁnə]) and Urnen ([ˈʊʁnən]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “Urne” sits inside “Urnen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Urne is recorded at frequency rank #18,739, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊʁnə]. Urnen is at rank #32,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʊʁnən].

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 51571, this pair ranks #1,130,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Urne vs Urnen

Shared letters: enru. Private to "Urne": -. Private to "Urnen": -.

"Urne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "Urnen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Urneunre · uren · urnne · urrne
  • Urnenunren · urenn · urnenn · urnnen · urrnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Urne" for "Urnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊʁnə] versus [ˈʊʁnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Urne" or "Urnen"?
"Urne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,739 in our German list, against #32,832 for "Urnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Urne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Urnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,130,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Urne" and "Urnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Unzen vs Urnen". 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 #1,130,358 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