echtvsecoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#394
“echt” frequency rank
#20,222
“eco” frequency rank
20616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature echt eco
Definition unverfälscht das Echo, der Widerhall

Letter map: echt vs eco

Shared letters muted; letters that set echt and eco apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
echt
3 ch
eco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: echt is anadjective and ecoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

echt is recorded at frequency rank #394, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛçt]. eco is at rank #20,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 20616, this pair ranks #1,895,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of echt vs eco

Shared letters: ce. Private to "echt": ht. Private to "eco": o.

"echt" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "eco" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • echtceht · eccht · echht · echtt · ecth · ehct

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "echt" and "eco" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "echt" is an adjective and "eco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "echt" or "eco"?
"echt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #394 in our German list, against #20,222 for "eco". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list