AchtevsAkteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Achte” and “Akte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,756
“Achte” frequency rank
#8,506
“Akte” frequency rank
15262
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Achte Akte
Definition Synonym für den Monat August im kaufmännischen und Verwaltungsbereich Sammlung von Aufzeichnungen, die inhaltlich zusammengehören

Where the eye mixes Achte and Akte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Achte
4 ch
Akte

Why the eye confuses Achte with Akte

A purely visual mix-up. Achte ([ˈaxtə]) and Akte ([ˈaktə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Achte is recorded at frequency rank #6,756, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaxtə]. Akte is at rank #8,506, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaktə].

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 15262, this pair ranks #1,945,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Achte vs Akte

Shared letters: aet. Private to "Achte": ch. Private to "Akte": k.

"Achte" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "Akte" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Achteacchte · achet · achhte · achtte · acthe · ahcte · cahte
  • Akteaket · akkte · aktte · atke · kate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Achte" and "Akte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaxtə] versus [ˈaktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Achte" or "Akte"?
"Achte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,756 in our German list, against #8,506 for "Akte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Achte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Akte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,945,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Achte" and "Akte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Akte vs Atze". 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 #1,945,215 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