Which to use
“antworten” and “antwortete” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,313
- “antworten” frequency rank
- #7,570
- “antwortete” frequency rank
- 8883
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | antworten | antwortete |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas auf eine Frage oder Aufgabe erwidern | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs antworten |
Where the eye mixes antworten and antwortete
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. antworten runs 9 letters (VCCCVCCVC) against antwortete's 10 (VCCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between antworten and antwortete
A purely visual mix-up. antworten ([ˈantˌvɔʁtn̩]) and antwortete ([ˈantˌvɔʁtətə]) 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 8883, 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]. antwortete is at rank #7,570, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈantˌvɔʁtətə].
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 8883, this pair ranks #1,982,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of antworten vs antwortete
Shared letters: aenortw. Private to "antworten": -. Private to "antwortete": -.
"antworten" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC · "antwortete" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- antworten ← anntworten · antowrten · anttworten · antworetn · antworrten · antwortenn · antwortne · antwortten
- antwortete ← anntwortete · antowrtete · anttwortete · antworette · antworrtete · antworteet · antwortette · antworttee
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "antworten" and "antwortete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "antworten" or "antwortete" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "antworten" and "antwortete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "antworten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "antwortete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,982,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "antworten" and "antwortete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "antwortete 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 #1,982,382 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.