Which to use
“Akuten” is a noun and “alten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,289
- “Akuten” frequency rank
- #416
- “alten” frequency rank
- 15705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Akuten | alten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Akut | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs alt |
Where the eye mixes Akuten and alten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Akuten runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against alten's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Akuten and alten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Akuten is [aˈkuːtn̩] while alten is [ˈaltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Akuten is recorded at frequency rank #15,289, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈkuːtn̩]. alten is at rank #416, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaltn̩].
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 15705, this pair ranks #1,941,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Akuten vs alten
Shared letters: aent. Private to "Akuten": ku. Private to "alten": l.
"Akuten" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "alten" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Akuten" and "alten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Akuten" or "alten" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Akuten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,941,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Akuten" and "alten" 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 #1,941,790 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.