autoritärevsautoritärenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,019
“autoritäre” frequency rank
#23,431
“autoritären” frequency rank
52450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autoritäre autoritären
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs autoritär Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs autoritär

Where the eye mixes autoritäre and autoritären

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. autoritäre runs 10 letters (VVCVCVCVCV) against autoritären's 11 (VVCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
autoritäre
11 ch
autoritären

Visual trap between autoritäre and autoritären

A purely visual mix-up. autoritäre ([aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁə]) and autoritären ([aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “autoritäre” sits inside “autoritären”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autoritäre is recorded at frequency rank #29,019, classified as anadj, pronounced [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁə]. autoritären is at rank #23,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁən].

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 52450, this pair ranks #1,096,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of autoritäre vs autoritären

Shared letters: aeiortuä. Private to "autoritäre": -. Private to "autoritären": n.

"autoritäre" · 10 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCV  ·  "autoritären" · 11 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "autoritäre" and "autoritären" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁə] versus [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "autoritäre" or "autoritären" show up more?
"autoritären" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,431 in our German list, against #29,019 for "autoritäre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "autoritäre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "autoritären" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,096,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autoritäre" and "autoritären" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autoritär vs autoritäre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,096,459 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