echtevselfteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: echte is a adjective, elfte is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“echte” is an adjective and “elfte” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,691
“echte” frequency rank
#31,024
“elfte” frequency rank
32715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature echte elfte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs echt nach dem beziehungsweise der zehnten kommend; dem zwölften vorausgehend

Where the eye mixes echte and elfte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
echte
5 ch
elfte

Why the eye confuses echte with elfte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: echte is [ˈɛçtə] while elfte is [ˈɛlftə]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32715, 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]. elfte is at rank #31,024, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈɛlftə].

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 32715, this pair ranks #1,701,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of echte vs elfte

Shared letters: et. Private to "echte": ch. Private to "elfte": fl.

"echte" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "elfte" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • echtecehte · ecchte · echet · echhte · echtte · ecthe · ehcte
  • elfteeflte · elfet · elffte · elftte · ellfte · eltfe · lefte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "echte" and "elfte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "echte" is an adjective and "elfte" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "echte" or "elfte"?
"echte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,691 in our German list, against #31,024 for "elfte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "echte" and "elfte" 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 "elfte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,701,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "echte" and "elfte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Elfe vs elfte". 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 #1,701,581 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