zunehmendvszunehmendemWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: zunehmend is a adverb, zunehmendem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“zunehmend” is an adverb and “zunehmendem” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,939
“zunehmend” frequency rank
#21,495
“zunehmendem” frequency rank
24434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zunehmend zunehmendem
Definition mehr in Zahl, Menge oder Häufigkeit werdend, sich vergrößernd, ansteigend Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs zunehmend

Where the eye mixes zunehmend and zunehmendem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. zunehmend runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against zunehmendem's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
zunehmend
11 ch
zunehmendem

Visual trap between zunehmend and zunehmendem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: zunehmend is [ˈt͡suːneːmənt] while zunehmendem is [ˈt͡suːneːməndəm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “zunehmend” sits inside “zunehmendem”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zunehmend is recorded at frequency rank #2,939, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈt͡suːneːmənt]. zunehmendem is at rank #21,495, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡suːneːməndəm].

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 24434, this pair ranks #1,847,707 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of zunehmend vs zunehmendem

Shared letters: dehmnuz. Private to "zunehmend": -. Private to "zunehmendem": -.

"zunehmend" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "zunehmendem" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zunehmend ← uznehmend · znuehmend · zuenhmend · zunehemnd · zunehhmend · zunehmedn · zunehmendd · zunehmennd
  • zunehmendem ← uznehmendem · znuehmendem · zuenhmendem · zunehemndem · zunehhmendem · zunehmednem · zunehmenddem · zunehmendemm

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "zunehmend" and "zunehmendem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "zunehmend" is an adverb and "zunehmendem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "zunehmend" or "zunehmendem" show up more?
"zunehmend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,939 in our German list, against #21,495 for "zunehmendem". 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 "zunehmend" and "zunehmendem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "zunehmend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zunehmendem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,847,707 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zunehmend" and "zunehmendem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zunehmendem vs zunehmender". 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 #1,847,707 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