Which to use
“east” is a noun and “erst” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,842
- “east” frequency rank
- #159
- “erst” frequency rank
- 11001
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | east | erst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ost(en) (Himmelsrichtung) | zuvor, vorher |
Letter map: east vs erst
Shared letters muted; letters that set east and erst apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. east (VVCC) and erst (VCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: east vs erst
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: east is anoun and erstanadverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “east” becomes r in “erst”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
east is recorded at frequency rank #10,842, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. erst is at rank #159, tagged as anadv, pronounced [eːɐ̯st].
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 11001, this pair ranks #1,972,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of east vs erst
Shared letters: est. Private to "east": a. Private to "erst": r.
"east" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "erst" · 4 letters · shape VCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "east" and "erst" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "east" or "erst" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "east" vs "erst" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "east" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,972,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "east" and "erst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "east vs puzzles". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,972,216 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.