angehörenvsangehörteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: angehören is a verb, angehörte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set angehören and angehörte apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
angehören
9 ch
angehörte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

angehören#9,137
angehörte#27,608

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "angehören" and "angehörte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "angehören" is a verb and "angehörte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "angehören" or "angehörte"?
"angehören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,137 in our German list, against #27,608 for "angehörte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering angehören vs angehörte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “angehören”; for an adjective, it's “angehörte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “angehören” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list