erachtenvserschienTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,529
“erachten” frequency rank
#2,591
“erschien” frequency rank
34120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erachten erschien
Definition eine bestimmte Meinung zu einem Thema vertreten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs erscheinen

Where the eye mixes erachten and erschien

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
erachten
8 ch
erschien

Visual trap between erachten and erschien

A purely visual mix-up. erachten ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtn̩]) and erschien ([ɛɐ̯ˈʃiːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erachten is recorded at frequency rank #31,529, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtn̩]. erschien is at rank #2,591, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʃiːn].

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 34120, this pair ranks #1,670,550 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erachten vs erschien

Shared letters: cehnr. Private to "erachten": at. Private to "erschien": is.

"erachten" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCCVC  ·  "erschien" · 8 letters · shape VCCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erachtenearchten · eracchten · erachetn · erachhten · erachtenn · erachtne · erachtten · eracthen
  • erschienercshien · errschien · erscchien · erschein · erschhien · erschienn · erschine · erscihen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erachten" for "erschien" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʃiːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "erachten" or "erschien"?
"erschien" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,591 in our German list, against #31,529 for "erachten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erachten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erschien" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,670,550 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erachten" and "erschien" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erachte vs erachten". 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 #1,670,550 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