zehntelvszehnterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: zehntel is a adjective, zehnter is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“zehntel” is an adjective and “zehnter” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,220
“zehntel” frequency rank
#39,742
“zehnter” frequency rank
61962
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zehntel zehnter
Definition aus einem von zehn gleich großen Teilen bestehend unbestimmte männliche Deklination von zehnte

Where the eye mixes zehntel and zehnter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. zehntel and zehnter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
zehntel
7 ch
zehnter

Why the eye confuses zehntel with zehnter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zehntel is [ˈt͡seːntl̩] while zehnter is [ˈt͡seːntɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “zehntel” becomes r in “zehnter”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zehntel is recorded at frequency rank #22,220, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡seːntl̩]. zehnter is at rank #39,742, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈt͡seːntɐ].

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 61962, this pair ranks #730,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zehntel vs zehnter

Shared letters: ehntz. Private to "zehntel": l. Private to "zehnter": r.

"zehntel" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "zehnter" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zehntel ← ezhntel · zehhntel · zehnetl · zehnntel · zehntell · zehntle · zehnttel · zehtnel
  • zehnter ← ezhnter · zehhnter · zehnetr · zehnnter · zehnterr · zehntre · zehntter · zehtner

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "zehntel" and "zehnter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "zehntel" is an adjective and "zehnter" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "zehntel" vs "zehnter" - which ranks higher?
"zehntel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,220 in our German list, against #39,742 for "zehnter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "zehntel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zehnter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #730,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zehntel" and "zehnter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Zehnt vs zehnter". 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 #730,347 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