zehnjährigevszehnjährigenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,592
“zehnjährige” frequency rank
#31,387
“zehnjährigen” frequency rank
72979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zehnjährige zehnjährigen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zehnjährig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zehnjährig

Where the eye mixes zehnjährige and zehnjährigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. zehnjährige runs 11 letters (CVCCCVCCVCV) against zehnjährigen's 12 (CVCCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
zehnjährige
12 ch
zehnjährigen

Visual trap between zehnjährige and zehnjährigen

A purely visual mix-up. zehnjährige ([ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡə]) and zehnjährigen ([ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡn̩]) 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) - “zehnjährige” sits inside “zehnjährigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zehnjährige is recorded at frequency rank #41,592, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡə]. zehnjährigen is at rank #31,387, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡn̩].

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 72979, this pair ranks #373,129 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of zehnjährige vs zehnjährigen

Shared letters: eghijnrzä. Private to "zehnjährige": -. Private to "zehnjährigen": -.

"zehnjährige" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVCV  ·  "zehnjährigen" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zehnjährige" for "zehnjährigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡə] versus [ˈt͡seːnˌjɛːʁɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "zehnjährige" or "zehnjährigen" show up more?
"zehnjährigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,387 in our German list, against #41,592 for "zehnjährige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "zehnjährige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zehnjährigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #373,129 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #373,129 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