Which to use
“echte” is an adjective and “eilte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,691
- “echte” frequency rank
- #27,258
- “eilte” frequency rank
- 28949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | echte | eilte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs echt | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs eilen |
Where the eye mixes echte and eilte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between echte and eilte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: echte is [ˈɛçtə] while eilte is [ˈaɪ̯ltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
echte is recorded at frequency rank #1,691, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛçtə]. eilte is at rank #27,258, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ltə].
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 28949, this pair ranks #1,775,696 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of echte vs eilte
Shared letters: et. Private to "echte": ch. Private to "eilte": il.
"echte" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "eilte" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "echte" and "eilte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "echte" or "eilte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "echte" and "eilte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "echte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eilte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,775,696 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "echte" and "eilte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eilte vs Erle". 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 #1,775,696 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.