eintretenvseinzutretenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“eintreten” and “einzutreten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,459
“eintreten” frequency rank
#19,885
“einzutreten” frequency rank
27344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eintreten einzutreten
Definition eintreten in …; Hilfsverb „sein:“ einen Raum betreten erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs eintreten

Where the eye mixes eintreten and einzutreten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. eintreten runs 9 letters (VVCCCVCVC) against einzutreten's 11 (VVCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
eintreten
11 ch
einzutreten

Why the eye confuses eintreten with einzutreten

A purely visual mix-up. eintreten ([ˈaɪ̯nˌtʁeːtn̩]) and einzutreten ([ˈaɪ̯nt͡suˌtʁeːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eintreten is recorded at frequency rank #7,459, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nˌtʁeːtn̩]. einzutreten is at rank #19,885, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nt͡suˌtʁeːtn̩].

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 27344, this pair ranks #1,803,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eintreten vs einzutreten

Shared letters: einrt. Private to "eintreten": -. Private to "einzutreten": uz.

"eintreten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC  ·  "einzutreten" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eintreten ← einntreten · einrteten · einterten · eintreetn · eintretenn · eintretne · eintretten · eintrreten
  • einzutreten ← einnzutreten · einuztreten · einztureten · einzurteten · einzuterten · einzutreetn · einzutretenn · einzutretne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eintreten" for "einzutreten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯nˌtʁeːtn̩] versus [ˈaɪ̯nt͡suˌtʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "eintreten" or "einzutreten"?
"eintreten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,459 in our German list, against #19,885 for "einzutreten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eintreten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einzutreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,803,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eintreten" and "einzutreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "einzureden vs einzutreten". 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 #1,803,295 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