Which to use
“Zähnen” is a noun and “zehnten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,009
- “Zähnen” frequency rank
- #9,304
- “zehnten” frequency rank
- 21313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Zähnen | zehnten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Zahn | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs zehnte |
Where the eye mixes Zähnen and zehnten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Zähnen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against zehnten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Zähnen and zehnten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zähnen is [ˈt͡sɛːnən] while zehnten is [ˈt͡seːntn̩]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Zähnen is recorded at frequency rank #12,009, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡sɛːnən]. zehnten is at rank #9,304, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡seːntn̩].
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 21313, this pair ranks #1,887,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Zähnen vs zehnten
Shared letters: ehnz. Private to "Zähnen": ä. Private to "zehnten": t.
"Zähnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "zehnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- zehnten ← ezhnten · zehhnten · zehnetn · zehnnten · zehntenn · zehntne · zehntten · zehtnen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Zähnen" and "zehnten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Zähnen" or "zehnten" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Zähnen" and "zehnten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Zähnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zehnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,887,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Zähnen" and "zehnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Zählern vs Zähnen". 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 #1,887,743 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.