ärgerevsärgernConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#22,986
“ärgere” frequency rank
#8,316
“ärgern” frequency rank
31302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ärgere ärgern
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs arg (jemanden) necken, Ärger verursachen

Where the eye mixes ärgere and ärgern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ärgere (VCCVCV) and ärgern (VCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
ärgere
6 ch
ärgern

Look-alike desk: ärgere vs ärgern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ärgere is [ˈɛʁɡəʁə] while ärgern is [ˈɛʁɡɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “ärgere” becomes n in “ärgern”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ärgere is recorded at frequency rank #22,986, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛʁɡəʁə]. ärgern is at rank #8,316, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɛʁɡɐn].

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 31302, this pair ranks #1,730,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ärgere vs ärgern

Shared letters: egrä. Private to "ärgere": -. Private to "ärgern": n.

"ärgere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "ärgern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ärgere" and "ärgern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ärgere" is an adjective and "ärgern" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ärgere" or "ärgern" show up more?
"ärgern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,316 in our German list, against #22,986 for "ärgere". 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 "ärgere" and "ärgern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ärgere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ärgern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,730,859 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ärgere" and "ärgern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ärgere vs ärmere". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,730,859 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