vielenvsviertenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#284
“vielen” frequency rank
#2,865
“vierten” frequency rank
3149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vielen vierten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs viel Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs vierte

Where the eye mixes vielen and vierten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vielen
7 ch
vierten

Visual trap between vielen and vierten

A purely visual mix-up. vielen ([ˈfiːlən]) and vierten ([ˈfiːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vielen is recorded at frequency rank #284, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfiːlən]. vierten is at rank #2,865, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfiːɐ̯tn̩].

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 3149, this pair ranks #2,000,841 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vielen vs vierten

Shared letters: einv. Private to "vielen": l. Private to "vierten": rt.

"vielen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "vierten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vielenivelen · veilen · vieeln · vielenn · viellen · vielne · vileen · vvielen
  • vierteniverten · veirten · vieretn · vierrten · viertenn · viertne · viertten · vietren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vielen" for "vierten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfiːlən] versus [ˈfiːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vielen" or "vierten"?
"vielen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #284 in our German list, against #2,865 for "vierten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vielen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vierten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,841 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vielen" and "vierten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Velten vs vierten". 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 #2,000,841 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