eiltenvsElternWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: eilten is a verb, Eltern is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eilten” is a verb and “Eltern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,547
“eilten” frequency rank
#465
“Eltern” frequency rank
45012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eilten Eltern
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs eilen Vater und Mutter eines Kindes

Where the eye mixes eilten and Eltern

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

6 ch
eilten
6 ch
Eltern

Why the eye confuses eilten with Eltern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eilten is [ˈaɪ̯ltn̩] while Eltern is [ˈɛltɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eilten is recorded at frequency rank #44,547, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ltn̩]. Eltern is at rank #465, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛltɐn].

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 45012, this pair ranks #1,367,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eilten vs Eltern

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "eilten": i. Private to "Eltern": r.

"eilten" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC  ·  "Eltern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eilteneiletn · eillten · eiltenn · eiltne · eiltten · eitlen · ielten
  • Elterneletrn · elltern · eltenr · elternn · elterrn · eltren · elttern · etlern

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eilten" and "Eltern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eilten" is a verb and "Eltern" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "eilten" vs "Eltern" - which ranks higher?
"Eltern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #465 in our German list, against #44,547 for "eilten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "eilten" and "Eltern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eilten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eltern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,367,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eilten" and "Eltern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eilten vs Exoten". 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 #1,367,373 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