berührtevsberührtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,848
“berührte” frequency rank
#47,258
“berührten” frequency rank
67106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature berührte berührten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs berührt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs berührt

Where the eye mixes berührte and berührten

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

8 ch
berührte
9 ch
berührten

Why the eye confuses berührte with berührten

A purely visual mix-up. berührte ([bəˈʁyːɐ̯tə]) and berührten ([bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩]) 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) - “berührte” sits inside “berührten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

berührte is recorded at frequency rank #19,848, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁyːɐ̯tə]. berührten is at rank #47,258, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩].

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 67106, this pair ranks #551,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of berührte vs berührten

Shared letters: behrtü. Private to "berührte": -. Private to "berührten": n.

"berührte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "berührten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "berührte" and "berührten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʁyːɐ̯tə] versus [bəˈʁyːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "berührte" vs "berührten" - which ranks higher?
"berührte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,848 in our German list, against #47,258 for "berührten". 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 "berührte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "berührten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #551,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "berührte" and "berührten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "berührend vs berührten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #551,087 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