German Gender (Word length 6 or longer)

The first article about German lists a lot of stories that are useful for remembering the gender of words of length 5 letters or less.

This article is intended to have stories to tell you the gender of some 6 letter words. I am starting it around September 2025. Each story uses a few words from the list below:

German Gender (Word length 6 or more; and word ends in -el or -en or -er)

In regular German grammar rules, there are general rules about how to handle words which end in -el or -en or -er. My linked list story approach adds to those rules, If the total word length is 5 or less then the section in the other Germana article should handle it (eg. Das Kabel is 'wire').

If a word ends with -el or -er or -en and word length is 6 or more then I have presented common words in lists of three words, below.

So if the German words are listed in descending order then they are all feminine gender and use "Die"; and if German words are in ascending order then the gender uses neuter "Das". A 6 letter word (or longer) ending in '-el' or '-en' or '-er' that is not in the two lists has a good chance of being masculine "Der".:

(I should acknowledge that the word list is based on one from Wikipedia: https://frequencylists.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-2980-most-frequently-used-german.html?m=1 )

Feminine (descending order across the three words ending in -el, -en or -er and length bigger than 5):

Zwiebel, Wurzel, Windel

onion, root, diaper

An onion falls off a pile of onions and grows roots in the soil. A farmer walks past it and throws diapers around it to act as fertiliser.

Türklingel, Trommel, Kapsel

doorbell, drum, capsule

Outside a house, a salesman rings a doorbell. He waits outside while, inside the house, wires run along the hallway from the front door to a drumkit where the drum sticks hit the drum as an automaton. A lady answers the door to the salesman. Still outside, he now has capsules in his hands and asks, "Hello madam, Would you like some capsules?"

Trauer, Tochter, Süßigkeiten

sorrow, daughter, candy

A mother is crying into a handkerchief. "Where is my daughter?", she sobs. Then her daughter arrives and she cheers up: the mother smiles and exclaims, "My daughter!". The mother gives some candy to the daughter. The daughter becomes very happy.

Steuer, Stecknadel, Schwester

tax, pin, sister

An angry businessman puts pins in an invoice. His sister walks over and grabs the invoice and looks shocked.

Schüssel, Schulter, Schmerzen

bowl, shoulder, pain

A chef throws a bowl up in the air and catches it on the top of his shoulder. He winces and rubs the shoulder that the bowl is on. He then says, "That was painful!"

Schiefertafel, Schaufel, Schachtel

slate, shovel, box

A female teacher approaches a blackboard and then writes on it by using a shovel instead of chalk. "This is the wrong way to write!", she says. "I will put it back in its box."; and she puts the shovel into the box that is in front of her.

Schiefertafel, Schaufel, Schachtel

slate, shovel, box

A female teacher approaches a blackboard and then writes on it by using a shovel instead of chalk. "This is the wrong way to write!", she says. "I will put it back in its box."; and she puts the shovel into the box that is in front of her.

Nummer, Nachrichten, Mutter

number, news, mother

A lot of numbers fly across the screen of a tv news room. The camera zooms out to show a new presenter pointing at the numbers. His mother comes on set and tells him that it is rude to point. He says to his mother, "Mother?"

Mutter, Muschel

Nut (of nuts and bolts)

An engineer picks up a bolt and thrusts it through a seashell. The end of the bolt comes out of the other side of the seashell. He then gets a metal engineering nut and screws it on to the end of the bolt.

Metapher, Medien, Maultier

metaphor, media, mule

An English professor mimes quotation marks and says to his class, "This is a metaphor". A student photos him doing this; and the photo appears on a social media site. A mule is watching the computer screen where the social media photo has appeared.

Kartoffel, Kammer, Großmutter

potato, chamber, grandmother

A potato is transported by wheelbarrow by a grandson. He pushes the wheelbarrow into a chamber where his grandmother is in an armchair. She becomes frustrated by his arrival.

Geisel, Folter, Fackel

hostage, torture, [flaming] torch

A gagged hostage is tied up in a chair. A tormenter arrives and tickles his feet with a feather duster. Then another rogue arrives with a flaming torch and says, "Let me help you to see what you are doing."

Dienstmädchen, Chancen, Butter

maid, odds, butter

A maid is cleaning a room and finds a scratchcard. She rubs the scratchcard and it reveals the prize is a packet of butter. Ecstatically, She exclaims, "I beat the odds! .. I won butter!"; and then a huge lump of butter lands in front of her.

Anrufer, Anderen

caller, others

A man is in a phone booth and he rings a woman who picks up a traditional phone. The man in the phone booth has many mobile phones with him. He picks up one and exclaims, "I must ring the others!". In a street, several people receive a phonecall from him simultaneously.

Neuter list (ascending order for Das for words ending in -el, -en or -er and length bigger than 5):

Abendessen, Abenteuer, Abzeichen

dinner [evening meal], adventure, badge

A female diner stares at the pile of food on her evening meal plate. He sees that, on the potato, is a miniature male adventurer with a grappling hook. The adventurer is climbing the potato. The adventurer then takes out a badge and shows it. The adventurer says, "I am a qualified adventurer".

Achselzucken, Anschwellen, Rauschen

shrug, swell, rustling

In a supermarket, A grinning man in a blue t-shirt shrugs says, "I have no idea why I am shrugging!" . His shoulder begins to show a sign of swelling. He puts a paper bag on top of his shoulder. The bag makes a continuous rustling sound.

Anwesen, Aufblitzen, Aufeinandertreffen

Aussehen, Badezimmer, Banner

appearance, bathroom, banner

At a dog show, judges look at paraded dogs. One judge says, "I like that one's appearance!" That dog continues to walk and enters an empty bathroom. A banner appears above the dog. The banner text is "1st".

Becken, Beispiel, Blenden

basin, example, glare (what dazzles you)

A plumber is stood with a female customer beside a leaking sink. The plumber points at a showroom area which has many basins. The plumber says, "Here are examples!". When the customer looks towards the showroom, a bright light flashes and blinds her.

Braten, Brötchen, Brummen

frying, patty (bread bun), hum

A frying pan containing sizzling oil is on a gas stove. A chef walks over to the gas stove and throws a bread patty into the frying pan; it begins to fry. And then a mini meditating cross-legged robed man levitates above the frying bun; and he makes a humming sound.

Bündel, Darlehen, Denken

bundle, loan, thinking

A bundle of clothes is wrapped up with string by a female shop attendant. The attendant gives it to a male lawyer and the lawyer hands the attendant a loan cheque. The lawyer says, "And here is your loan. Oh, hang on!". The lawyer then poses to thnk with intensely with a pensive frown.

Doppel, Durcheinander, Eichhörnchen

double, mess, squirrel

A man and his double announce, "I have a double!". A female scientist approaches them while one of the men vanishes; and she holds paper. She says, "This is a mess!" and studies her research paper. A squirrel then runs up to the remaining man and puts its paws against his leg and says, "I agree!" while doing that.

Einkommen, Entsetzen, Sehnen

income, dismay, longing

A warehouse foreman pays a happy female worker her income as cash. The worker receives her cash and then her face becomes dismayed. The foreman asks her, "Why the dismay?". The female worker replies, "I am longing for a promotion". Suddenly, the female worker's outfit becomes a classy business suit.

Erdbeben, Erstaunen, Erwachen

earthquake, amazement, awakening

In a Japanese city, all is calm. Then an earthquake begins in the Japanese city. Pedestrians' faces become amazed and people exclaim, "I am amazed!". A wise old man opens his eyes, yawns and says, "the ground is awakening."

Esszimmer, Fauchen, Fenster

dining room, hiss, window

A dining room has evening meals on a dining table. A snake slithers into the room, hisses and seats itself at a chair and looks at a meal. After the hiss, the windows in the room quickly automatically open.

Fernsehen, Fieber, Fliegen

television, fever, flying

The camera shows a television in a living room. That television has a used tissue dropped on top of it by a feverish man. A model airplane then flies across the room and uses the top of the television as a runway.

Futter, Gänseblümchen, Geländer

animal feed, daisy, railing

Chickens run over to animal feed and start to eat it. After the feed is eaten, daisies spring up at the location where the feed used to be. The camera zooms out to show a farmer supporting himself on a wooden handrail to support him as he walks towards the chickens.

Geschwister, Gewissen, Grinsen

sibling, conscience, grin

Brothers and sisters celebrate a birthday. One female sibling eats all the cake and the other siblings are shocked. After that, she looks shamefully at the floor. She says, "I feel ashamed."; and then the parents come up to her and the parents are grinning and so are the siblings.

Grollen, Grunzen, Halten

rumble, grunt, hold [the "holding" probably because der Halt means a hold or a support]

An angry lightning god makes a thunder rumble sound when he points and lightning comes out of his fingers. A nearby caveman sees the lightning and so he grunts a lot. He later holds the ightning and examines it.

Kaninchen, Kapitel, Kätzchen

rabbit, chapter, kitten

A bunny slowly walks up to the entrance of a big office building. Next, you see a wide angle view of the building and it has "Headquarters" written across it in cement letters. Finally, in a plush office, the bunny approaches a big boss and the big boss pets the bunny. The boss says, "Hello my pet!"

Heulen, Hinken, Ingenieurwesen

howl, limp, engineering

Wolves howls and the leader limps towards an engineering site. Later, at the engineering site, the wolf uses a wrench to loosen a steam pipe coupling: it does engineering.

Kaninchen, Kapitel, Kätzchen

rabbit, chapter, kitten

A rabbit dressed in tweed walks up to a story book which is on a small table; and opens up the book. A page of the book displays: "Chapter 1". A kitten then leaps out of the book and meows.

Keuchen, Kissen, Klassenzimmer

gasp, pillow, classroom

A gasping terrified student runs along a school yard. Behind the frightened gasping student is a pillow with legs and arms. The pillow is chasing the student. Then the student rushes into a classroom and up to the whiteboard. The pillow approaches and sits on a classroom desk at the front of the class.

Klavier, Klopfen, Knurren

piano, knock, growl

A pianist in a tuxedo plays a grand piano. Soon, a knocking sound comes from inside the piano: several knocks like the sound of a front door being knocked. He leans in to listen and then he opens the top of the grand piano by using his hands. A growling security dog jumps out of the piano and growls.

Kochen, Kommen, Kupfer

cooking, coming, copper

Pots and pans are cooking on a gas stove. A waiter is some distance away down the far end of the kitchen but he is advancing towards the gas stove. He keeps shouting, "I'm coming! I'm coming!". When he is near to the gas stove, a lot of copper wiring drops down from the ceiling and he becomes entangled in it.

Lachen, Laufen, Lebewesen

laughter, running, creature

A female pedestrian in a pedestrianised part of a town is laughing and points at a group of joggers in the high street. Suddenly, a winged creature appears in front of the joggers and it roars. The joggers jog through it and they duck down with wide eyes and worried expressions.

Leiden, Leinen, Lernen

suffering, linen, learning

A manacled prisoner in a dungeon exclaims, "I am really suffering". A chambermaid comes up to him and she is holding linen. "At least you get clean linen!", she counterargues. Then a school mistress approaches him and reprimands him, "And you get free learning!"

Leuchten, Lumpen, Mädchen

glow, rag, girl

A beggar in the middle distance walks foward. He is on a cobblestone lane. He is dressed in rags. He is glowing a lot. After a few seconds of walking, one of his rags drops from his arm to the ground. He points at it. A girl runs up and picks up the lost rag and waves the rag like a flag. She shouts, "A rag! A rag!"

Märchen, Messer, Mischen

story or tale, knife, shuffling

A storyteller sits by a campfire surrounded by an audience. He takes a knife out of his pocket and says, "Tonight I tell the story of the knife.". The audience do not look at him. They take out decks of cards and start to shuffle them.

Mittagessen, Monster, Muster

lunch, monster, pattern

A waiter delivers a lunch on a silver platter to a diner who is sat next to a serviette. The waiter says, "Here's your lunch, sir!". Then the diner transforms into a monster. The waiter picks up the serviette and opens it to see a polka dots pattern. The monster declares, "I love this pattern!"

Nicken, Papier, Parken

nod, paper, parking

A parking lot attendant sees a car arrive at the car barrier. The Parking lot attendant nods vigorously and the barrier raises; and the car drives through into the main parking lot area. As the car passes the attendant, the car driver hands papers to the attendant via the wound down car window. The car then parks in a vacant parking space in the parking lot.

Phänomen, Poster, Pulver

phenomenon, poster, powder

An aerial view of a psychic man in mystical clothing. He unfurls a poster of himself to show to his audience. He snaps his fingers and the poster paper turns into powder; and the powder falls gently to the ground.

Rätsel, Register, Reinigen

puzzle, register, cleaning

Close up of a jigsaw puzzle which is on an unoccupied reception desk at a youth hostel next to the register. A backpacker arrives and signs a register while he says, "I must sign the register!". Then a cleaning lady walks over to him and uses a duster on the backpacker and he flinches.

Reisen, Rennen, Scharnier

travel, race (e.g. running race), hinge

A travel agent hands a ticket to a customer who is wearing jogging clothes. The travel agents says, "Enjoy your travels!". The customer runs out of the shop and joins a marathon race on the street outside. He jogs towards an average size doorway and door is in the middle of the street. He swings the door open and its hinges squeak loudly while he runs through the doorway and further along the street (in the opposite direction to other runners).

Schießen, Schlafen, Schlafzimmer

shooting, sleeping, bedroom

At a gun range, there are different people doing shooting practice; one of the shooters is sleeping in bed and suddenly awakes and sits up and starts shooting. He then walks off and into a real bedroom.

Schlagen, Schluchzen, Schnäppchen

beating, sob, bargain

Animation style: In a boxing ring, a boxer is beating his opponent with a lot of punches. The defeated boxer's manager starts to sob. The manager exclaims, "I need a new boxer!"; a salesman in a boater hat points to a line of boxers. The salesman says, "Buy a new boxer! This one's a bargain!"

Schwimmen, Semester, Silber

swimming, semester, silver

A male swimmer in a college gown and graduate thin headwear swims out of a river and comes to a podium where he stands at the lectern. The college graduate addresses an audience of college graduates. He says to them, "This has been a great semester!". A distinguished lady then walks over to him and gives him a silver medal. She says to him, "You have won a silver medal!".

Singen, Sitzen, Spektakel

singing, sitting, spectacle (a show)

On stage, a singer sings "I sing I sing I sing!" a few times while an armchair is brought on stage; and then he sits in the armchair. In the audience, a female groupee shouts, "This I a great spectacle!"

Spritzen, Spucken, Stöhnen

splash, spit, groan

A fun-loving 18 year old in a bikini splashes water in a holiday outdoor pool. She spits out water. An old lady also in the pool, groans a lot with dismay. The old lady frowns and groans and shakes her head.

Tanzen, Teilchen, Tentakel

dancing, particle, tentacle

In a particle accelerator chamber, a dancer dances. After a few seconds, a cloud of particles appear around her; and she continues dancing . Then, suddenly, a tentacled giant squid descends and covers her with its tentacles while the particles scatter.

Theater, Tratschen, Treffen

theatre, gossip, meeting

There is a theatre seen from the street. Inside, in the audience, two members of the audience are gossiping with each other; one of the audience members says, "You won't believe what the main actor has been accused of!". The camera then shows the theatre stage where a meeting is taking place at a meeting table; and the meeting organiser shouts at the audience, "Please be quiet! We are having a meeting!"

Trinken, Überleben, Unternehmen

drinking, survival, company (business company)

Vikings in business suits and horned helmets are drinking in a banquet hall when a tattered survivor bursts in. The survivor shouts, "I survived!". The chief viking is behind her and comes to stand beside her. He says to her, "You passed our test. You can now be part of this company."

Veilchen, Verbrechen, Verfahren

violet, crime, procedure

Violets are growing in a flower bed in a garden. A masked thief climbs into the garden. He says, "I am going to steal some violets". He steals the violets by plucking them. He then takes a checklist out of his pocket. It has "HOW TO" written above many check boxes. He says, "Now.. have I followed procedure?"

Vergnügen, Verhalten, Verlangen

pleasure, behaviour, desire

A bearded male scientist, who holds a bunch of bananas, points at a smiley face icon above a cage which contains an ape. The scientist says, "This is my pleasure test!". The scientist throws a banana into the cage. The ape happily grabs the banana and the ape says, "Ooh! This is classic primate behaviour!". A female scientist arrives and stares closely at the bunch of bananas. She says, "I have a strange desire to eat the bananas!"

Versagen, Verschwimmen, Versprechen

failure, blur, promise

At dusk, An anime male monkey runs slowly and exhaustedly around a race track. He trips over and a linesman approaches and shouts at the monkey, "Failure!". The monkey gets up and starts sprinting so fast that there is a blur behind him. Next, the monkey is on a podium. His monkey girlfriend approaches him, hugs him and she solemnly says, "I promise I will never doubt you again!"

Vertrauen, Viertel, Volumen

trust, quarter, volume

A wolf politician wears a suit with a rosette on the lapel. He shakes hands with a crowd. An old man says, "I trust you!". A nearby lady statistician points at a quadrant of a 4 part pie chart on a board. "He has a quarter of the vote!", she says. An old lady nearby is adjusting the volume on her wireless. "I need this louder because of your noise!", she complains.

Vorbeigehen, Warten, Waschbecken

passing, waiting, washbasin (sink)

Two trains pass each other by (in a surreal perpendicular way) while an old man stands at the train platform. He looks at his watch and sighs. A delivery man approaches him carrying a sink. The delivery man says, "Are you waiting for a sink?"

Wasser, Weinen, Wetter

water, crying, weather

Water is dripping into a living room and splashing on a tv viewer's head. She starts to cry. Her husband arrives with a weather vane and says, "Cheer up! It's just the weather!"

Wissen, Wohnzimmer, Wunder

knowledge, living room, wonder

An encyclopaedia of knowledge levitates into a living room. A scholar then grabs it and flicks through the pages of the encyclopaedia. "This is a wonder!", he exclaims.

Einfrieren, Zeichen, Zimmer

freezing (the process of), mark (or sign), room (a house has rooms)

Cartoon style: A bucket of water is on a trolley in a science lab. A sci-fi machine shoots a ray at that bucket of water and then the water transforms into ice. A scientist then uses a stick to etch a black curve shape on the ice. He says, "This is my mark to signify ice.". A female colleague then pushes the trolley (that has the bucket and ice) into a room full of trolleys. She says, "This is the special storage room!"