Which to use
“Alter” is a noun and “altere” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #455
- “Alter” frequency rank
- #36,169
- “altere” frequency rank
- 36624
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Alter | altere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | alter Mann | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs altern |
Where the eye mixes Alter and altere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Alter vs altere
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Alter is [ˈaltɐ] while altere is [ˈaltəʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Alter” sits inside “altere”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Alter is recorded at frequency rank #455, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaltɐ]. altere is at rank #36,169, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaltəʁə].
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 36624, this pair ranks #1,610,819 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Alter vs altere
Shared letters: aelrt. Private to "Alter": -. Private to "altere": -.
"Alter" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "altere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Alter" for "altere" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Alter" or "altere"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Alter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "altere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,610,819 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Alter" and "altere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "altere vs alternde". 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 #1,610,819 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.