Which to use
“ek” is a preposition and “et” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,492
- “ek” frequency rank
- #1,447
- “et” frequency rank
- 24939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ek | et |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | aus einem Gebiet oder Raum heraus/hinaus | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs eat |
Letter map: ek vs et
Shared letters muted; letters that set ek and et apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for ek / et
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ek is apreposition and etaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - k in “ek” becomes t in “et”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ek is recorded at frequency rank #23,492, classified as aprep, pronounced [ɛk]. et is at rank #1,447, tagged as averb, 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 24939, this pair ranks #1,840,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ek vs et
Shared letters: e. Private to "ek": k. Private to "et": t.
"ek" · 2 letters · shape VC · "et" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ek" for "et" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "ek" or "et" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "ek" vs "et" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "ek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "et" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,840,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ek" and "et" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ek vs eo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,840,443 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.