achtetvsAthletTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#10,030
“achtet” frequency rank
#27,197
“Athlet” frequency rank
37227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achtet Athlet
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs achten Person, die sportlich aktiv ist, regelmäßig trainiert und meist an Wettkämpfen teilnimmt (besonders im Bereich der Leicht- und Schwerathletik)

Where the eye mixes achtet and Athlet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. achtet and Athlet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
achtet
6 ch
Athlet

Why the eye confuses achtet with Athlet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: achtet is [ˈaxtət] while Athlet is [atˈleːt]. 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 37227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achtet is recorded at frequency rank #10,030, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaxtət]. Athlet is at rank #27,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced [atˈleːt].

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 37227, this pair ranks #1,595,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of achtet vs Athlet

Shared letters: aeht. Private to "achtet": c. Private to "Athlet": l.

"achtet" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "Athlet" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • achtetacchtet · achett · achhtet · achtett · achttet · acthet · ahctet · cahtet
  • Athletahtlet · athelt · athhlet · athlett · athllet · athlte · atlhet · atthlet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "achtet" and "Athlet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "achtet" is a verb and "Athlet" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "achtet" or "Athlet" show up more?
"achtet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,030 in our German list, against #27,197 for "Athlet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "achtet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Athlet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,595,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "achtet" and "Athlet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Äther vs Athlet". 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 #1,595,622 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