antwortenvsantwortestWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“antworten” and “antwortest” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,313
“antworten” frequency rank
#23,418
“antwortest” frequency rank
24731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature antworten antwortest
Definition etwas auf eine Frage oder Aufgabe erwidern 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs antworten

Where the eye mixes antworten and antwortest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. antworten runs 9 letters (VCCCVCCVC) against antwortest's 10 (VCCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
antworten
10 ch
antwortest

Why the eye confuses antworten with antwortest

A purely visual mix-up. antworten ([ˈantˌvɔʁtn̩]) and antwortest ([ˈantˌvɔʁtəst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

antworten is recorded at frequency rank #1,313, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈantˌvɔʁtn̩]. antwortest is at rank #23,418, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈantˌvɔʁtəst].

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 24731, this pair ranks #1,843,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of antworten vs antwortest

Shared letters: aenortw. Private to "antworten": -. Private to "antwortest": s.

"antworten" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "antwortest" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • antworten ← anntworten · antowrten · anttworten · antworetn · antworrten · antwortenn · antwortne · antwortten
  • antwortest ← anntwortest · antowrtest · anttwortest · antworetst · antworrtest · antwortesst · antwortestt · antwortets

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "antworten" and "antwortest" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈantˌvɔʁtn̩] versus [ˈantˌvɔʁtəst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "antworten" or "antwortest"?
"antworten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,313 in our German list, against #23,418 for "antwortest". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "antworten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "antwortest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,843,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "antworten" and "antwortest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "antworten vs antworteten". 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 #1,843,530 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