erachtevserwachteTell them apart

Quick tell: erachte is a verb, erwachte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erachte” is a verb and “erwachte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,853
“erachte” frequency rank
#28,642
“erwachte” frequency rank
77495
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erachte erwachte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erachten Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erwacht

Where the eye mixes erachte and erwachte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erachte runs 7 letters (VCVCCCV) against erwachte's 8 (VCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erachte
8 ch
erwachte

Look-alike desk: erachte vs erwachte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erachte is [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtə] while erwachte is [ɛɐ̯ˈvaxtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erachte is recorded at frequency rank #48,853, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtə]. erwachte is at rank #28,642, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvaxtə].

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 77495, this pair ranks #259,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erachte vs erwachte

Shared letters: acehrt. Private to "erachte": -. Private to "erwachte": w.

"erachte" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV  ·  "erwachte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erachte ← earchte · eracchte · erachet · erachhte · eracthe · erahcte · ercahte · errachte
  • erwachte ← erawchte · errwachte · erwacchte · erwachet · erwachhte · erwachtte · erwacthe · erwahcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erachte" and "erwachte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erachte" is a verb and "erwachte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erachte" or "erwachte" show up more?
"erwachte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,642 in our German list, against #48,853 for "erachte". 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 "erachte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erwachte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erachte" and "erwachte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erachte vs erdacht". 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 #259,427 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