EntevserntetTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#10,642
“Ente” frequency rank
#25,992
“erntet” frequency rank
36634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ente erntet
Definition kleinerer Wasservogel aus der Familie der Entenvögel (Anatidae), speziell 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ernten

Where the eye mixes Ente and erntet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Ente runs 4 letters (VCCV) against erntet's 6 (VCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Ente
6 ch
erntet

Why the eye confuses Ente with erntet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ente is [ˈɛntə] while erntet is [ˈɛʁntət]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ente is recorded at frequency rank #10,642, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛntə]. erntet is at rank #25,992, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɛʁntət].

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 36634, this pair ranks #1,610,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ente vs erntet

Shared letters: ent. Private to "Ente": -. Private to "erntet": r.

"Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "erntet" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ente ← enet · ennte · etne
  • erntet ← enrtet · ernett · ernntet · erntett · ernttet · errntet · ertnet · rentet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ente" and "erntet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ente" is a noun and "erntet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Ente" or "erntet" show up more?
"Ente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,642 in our German list, against #25,992 for "erntet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erntet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,610,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ente" and "erntet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erntet vs erntete". 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 #1,610,559 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