essen
[ˈɛsn̩]
The verdict
“essen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #402 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #402
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - feste Nahrung oral einnehmen
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | essen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈɛsn̩] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #402 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “essen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for essen is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈɛsn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #402 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for essen, with forms such as "esen", "esesn", and "essenn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "even", "esst", "Este", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is essen, spelled E-S-S-E-N.
Definition
- 1feste Nahrung oral einnehmen
- 2etwas als Nahrung dem Körper zuführen
- 3etwas durch das Einnehmen der Nahrung in einen bestimmten Zustand bringen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esen,esesn,essenn,essne,eßen,sesen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of essen - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “essen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is E-S-S-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈɛsn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “even” - see the side-by-side comparison. essen vs even
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.