akutvsaltWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,288
“akut” frequency rank
#595
“alt” frequency rank
15883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature akut alt
Definition in diesem Moment (sehr) wichtig vor langer Zeit gemacht, geschehen oder gewesen

Where the eye mixes akut and alt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
akut
3 ch
alt

Visual trap between akut and alt

A purely visual mix-up. akut ([aˈkuːt]) and alt ([alt]) 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 15883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

akut is recorded at frequency rank #15,288, classified as anadj, pronounced [aˈkuːt]. alt is at rank #595, tagged as anadj, pronounced [alt].

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 15883, this pair ranks #1,940,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of akut vs alt

Shared letters: at. Private to "akut": ku. Private to "alt": l.

"akut" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "alt" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • akutakkut · aktu · akutt · aukt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "akut" and "alt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈkuːt] versus [alt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "akut" vs "alt" - which ranks higher?
"alt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #595 in our German list, against #15,288 for "akut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "akut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,940,358 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "akut" and "alt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "akut vs AUD". 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 #1,940,358 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