Which to use
“angehören” is a verb and “angehörte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,137
- “angehören” frequency rank
- #27,608
- “angehörte” frequency rank
- 36745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | angehören | angehörte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Teil einer Gruppe, eines Gremiums, einer Organisation, eines Gebiets oder Ähnlichem sein | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs angehört |
Where the eye mixes angehören and angehörte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. angehören (VCCVCVCVC) and angehörte (VCCVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses angehören with angehörte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: angehören is [ˈanɡəˌhøːʁən] while angehörte is [ˈanɡəˌhøːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
angehören is recorded at frequency rank #9,137, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌhøːʁən]. angehörte is at rank #27,608, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌhøːɐ̯tə].
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 36745, this pair ranks #1,607,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of angehören vs angehörte
Shared letters: aeghnrö. Private to "angehören": -. Private to "angehörte": t.
"angehören" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC · "angehörte" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "angehören" and "angehörte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "angehören" or "angehörte"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "angehören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "angehörte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,607,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "angehören" and "angehörte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angehörte vs angehörten". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,607,733 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.