wirkendevswirkendenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,190
“wirkende” frequency rank
#17,191
“wirkenden” frequency rank
34381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirkende wirkenden
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wirkend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wirkend

Where the eye mixes wirkende and wirkenden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. wirkende runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against wirkenden's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
wirkende
9 ch
wirkenden

Visual trap between wirkende and wirkenden

A purely visual mix-up. wirkende ([ˈvɪʁkn̩də]) and wirkenden ([ˈvɪʁkn̩dən]) 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) - “wirkende” sits inside “wirkenden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wirkende is recorded at frequency rank #17,190, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkn̩də]. wirkenden is at rank #17,191, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkn̩dən].

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 34381, this pair ranks #1,664,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wirkende vs wirkenden

Shared letters: deiknrw. Private to "wirkende": -. Private to "wirkenden": -.

"wirkende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "wirkenden" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirkende ← iwrkende · wikrende · wireknde · wirkedne · wirkendde · wirkened · wirkennde · wirkkende
  • wirkenden ← iwrkenden · wikrenden · wireknden · wirkednen · wirkendden · wirkendenn · wirkendne · wirkenedn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wirkende" for "wirkenden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪʁkn̩də] versus [ˈvɪʁkn̩dən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wirkende" vs "wirkenden" - which ranks higher?
"wirkende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,190 in our German list, against #17,191 for "wirkenden". 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 "wirkende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wirkenden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,664,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wirkende" and "wirkenden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Winnenden vs wirkenden". 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 #1,664,628 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