anerkanntenvsanerkennenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: anerkannten is a adjective, anerkennen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“anerkannten” is an adjective and “anerkennen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,036
“anerkannten” frequency rank
#10,411
“anerkennen” frequency rank
20447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anerkannten anerkennen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs anerkannt einen Umstand als sachlich richtig oder wahr akzeptieren

Where the eye mixes anerkannten and anerkennen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. anerkannten runs 11 letters (VCVCCVCCCVC) against anerkennen's 10 (VCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
anerkannten
10 ch
anerkennen

Look-alike desk: anerkannten vs anerkennen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: anerkannten is [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantn̩] while anerkennen is [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkɛnən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anerkannten is recorded at frequency rank #10,036, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkantn̩]. anerkennen is at rank #10,411, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanʔɛɐ̯ˌkɛnən].

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 20447, this pair ranks #1,897,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of anerkannten vs anerkennen

Shared letters: aeknr. Private to "anerkannten": t. Private to "anerkennen": -.

"anerkannten" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCVC  ·  "anerkennen" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anerkanntenaenrkannten · anekrannten · aneraknnten · anerkannetn · anerkanntenn · anerkanntne · anerkanntten · anerkanten
  • anerkennenaenrkennen · anekrennen · anereknnen · anerkenen · anerkenenn · anerkennenn · anerkennne · anerkkennen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "anerkannten" for "anerkennen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "anerkannten" is an adjective and "anerkennen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "anerkannten" vs "anerkennen" - which ranks higher?
"anerkannten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,036 in our German list, against #10,411 for "anerkennen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "anerkannten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anerkennen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,897,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anerkannten" and "anerkennen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anerkennen vs anerkennend". 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 #1,897,565 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