AkutevsakuterConfusable pair

Quick tell: Akute is a noun, akuter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Akute” is a noun and “akuter” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,488
“Akute” frequency rank
#22,604
“akuter” frequency rank
37092
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Akute akuter
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Akut Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs akut

Where the eye mixes Akute and akuter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Akute runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against akuter's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Akute
6 ch
akuter

Visual trap between Akute and akuter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Akute is [aˈkuːtə] while akuter is [aˈkuːtɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Akute” sits inside “akuter”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Akute is recorded at frequency rank #14,488, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈkuːtə]. akuter is at rank #22,604, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aˈkuːtɐ].

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 37092, this pair ranks #1,599,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Akute vs akuter

Shared letters: aektu. Private to "Akute": -. Private to "akuter": r.

"Akute" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "akuter" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Akute ← akkute · aktue · akuet · akutte · aukte · kaute
  • akuter ← akkuter · akuetr · akuterr · akutre · akutter · aukter · kauter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Akute" for "akuter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Akute" is a noun and "akuter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Akute" vs "akuter" - which ranks higher?
"Akute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,488 in our German list, against #22,604 for "akuter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Akute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "akuter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,599,017 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Akute" and "akuter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "akuter vs Auster". 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 #1,599,017 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