Which to use
“altere” is a verb and “Altern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,169
- “altere” frequency rank
- #18,796
- “Altern” frequency rank
- 54965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | altere | Altern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs altern | Älterwerden |
Where the eye mixes altere and Altern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: altere vs Altern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: altere is [ˈaltəʁə] while Altern is [ˈaltɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “altere” becomes n in “Altern”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
altere is recorded at frequency rank #36,169, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaltəʁə]. Altern is at rank #18,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaltɐn].
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 54965, this pair ranks #997,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of altere vs Altern
Shared letters: aelrt. Private to "altere": -. Private to "Altern": n.
"altere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "Altern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "altere" for "Altern" ever safe?
Which is more common, "altere" or "Altern"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "altere" and "Altern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "altere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Altern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #997,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "altere" and "Altern" 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 #997,967 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.