autoritärevsAutoritätTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#29,019
“autoritäre” frequency rank
#8,987
“Autorität” frequency rank
38006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autoritäre Autorität
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs autoritär maßgebender Einfluss, Geltung, Ansehen

Where the eye mixes autoritäre and Autorität

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

10 ch
autoritäre
9 ch
Autorität

Visual trap between autoritäre and Autorität

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: autoritäre is [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːʁə] while Autorität is [aʊ̯toʁiˈtɛːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38006, 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]. 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 38006, this pair ranks #1,575,350 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of autoritäre vs Autorität

Shared letters: aiortuä. Private to "autoritäre": e. Private to "Autorität": -.

"autoritäre" · 10 letters · shape VVCVCVCVCV  ·  "Autorität" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "autoritäre" and "Autorität" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "autoritäre" is an adjective and "Autorität" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "autoritäre" or "Autorität"?
"Autorität" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,987 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

Eye-level mix-up between "autoritäre" and "Autorität" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "autoritäre" 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 #1,575,350 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autoritäre" and "Autorität" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autoritär vs autoritäre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,575,350 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