achtenvsAkutenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,378
“achten” frequency rank
#15,289
“Akuten” frequency rank
17667
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achten Akuten
Definition auf etwas Acht geben, etwas Beachtung schenken Dativ Plural des Substantivs Akut

Where the eye mixes achten and Akuten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. achten (VCCCVC) and Akuten (VCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
achten
6 ch
Akuten

Why the eye confuses achten with Akuten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: achten is [ˈaxtn̩] while Akuten is [aˈkuːtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 17667, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achten is recorded at frequency rank #2,378, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaxtn̩]. Akuten is at rank #15,289, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈkuːtn̩].

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 17667, this pair ranks #1,925,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of achten vs Akuten

Shared letters: aent. Private to "achten": ch. Private to "Akuten": ku.

"achten" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "Akuten" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • achten ← acchten · achetn · achhten · achtenn · achtne · achtten · acthen · ahcten
  • Akuten ← akkuten · aktuen · akuetn · akutenn · akutne · akutten · aukten · kauten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "achten" and "Akuten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "achten" is a verb and "Akuten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "achten" vs "Akuten" - which ranks higher?
"achten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,378 in our German list, against #15,289 for "Akuten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "achten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Akuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,925,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "achten" and "Akuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Akuten vs Auen". 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 #1,925,353 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