EastervsersterConfusable pair

Quick tell: Easter is a name, erster is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Easter” is a name and “erster” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,086
“Easter” frequency rank
#761
“erster” frequency rank
48847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Easter erster
Definition wichtigstes Fest im Christentum in Erinnerung an die Auferstehung von Jesus von Nazaret Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erste

Where the eye mixes Easter and erster

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Easter
6 ch
erster

Look-alike desk: Easter vs erster

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Easter is [ˈiːstə] while erster is [ˈeːɐ̯stɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Easter” becomes r in “erster”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Easter is recorded at frequency rank #48,086, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈiːstə]. erster is at rank #761, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːɐ̯stɐ].

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 48847, this pair ranks #1,233,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Easter vs erster

Shared letters: erst. Private to "Easter": a. Private to "erster": -.

"Easter" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC  ·  "erster" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Easteraester · easetr · easster · easterr · eastre · eastter · eatser · esater
  • erstererrster · ersetr · ersster · ersterr · erstre · erstter · ertser · esrter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Easter" for "erster" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Easter" is a name and "erster" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Easter" vs "erster" - which ranks higher?
"erster" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #761 in our German list, against #48,086 for "Easter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Easter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,233,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Easter" and "erster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Easter vs Euter". 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 #1,233,389 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