autoritärvsAutoritätConfusable pair

Quick tell: autoritär is a adjective, Autorität is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“autoritär” is an adjective and “Autorität” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,616
“autoritär” frequency rank
#8,987
“Autorität” frequency rank
47603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autoritär Autorität
Definition auf gewaltsamer Autorität beruhend maßgebender Einfluss, Geltung, Ansehen

Where the eye mixes autoritär and Autorität

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. autoritär and Autorität follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
autoritär
9 ch
Autorität

Visual trap between autoritär and Autorität

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: autoritär is [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːɐ̯] while Autorität is [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “autoritär” becomes t in “Autorität”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autoritär is recorded at frequency rank #38,616, classified as anadj, pronounced [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːɐ̯]. Autorität is at rank #8,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːt].

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 47603, this pair ranks #1,278,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of autoritär vs Autorität

Shared letters: aiortuä. Private to "autoritär": -. Private to "Autorität": -.

"autoritär" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCVC  ·  "Autorität" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "autoritär" and "Autorität" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "autoritär" is an adjective and "Autorität" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "autoritär" or "Autorität"?
"Autorität" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,987 in our German list, against #38,616 for "autoritär". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "autoritär" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Autorität" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,278,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autoritär" and "Autorität" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autoritär vs autoritäre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,278,577 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