zündetvsZungenTell them apart

Quick tell: zündet is a verb, Zungen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“zündet” is a verb and “Zungen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,221
“zündet” frequency rank
#23,802
“Zungen” frequency rank
48023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zündet Zungen
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs zünden Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Zunge

Where the eye mixes zündet and Zungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. zündet and Zungen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
zündet
6 ch
Zungen

Look-alike desk: zündet vs Zungen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zündet is [ˈt͡sʏndət] while Zungen is [ˈt͡sʊŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zündet is recorded at frequency rank #24,221, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡sʏndət]. Zungen is at rank #23,802, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡sʊŋən].

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 48023, this pair ranks #1,263,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of zündet vs Zungen

Shared letters: enz. Private to "zündet": dtü. Private to "Zungen": gu.

"zündet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Zungen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Zungenuzngen · znugen · zugnen · zunegn · zungenn · zunggen · zungne · zunngen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zündet" for "Zungen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "zündet" is a verb and "Zungen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "zündet" or "Zungen"?
"Zungen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,802 in our German list, against #24,221 for "zündet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "zündet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Zungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,263,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zündet" and "Zungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Zungen vs zupfen". 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 #1,263,605 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