Which to use
“erahnen” is a verb and “erwähnten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,276
- “erahnen” frequency rank
- #8,203
- “erwähnten” frequency rank
- 25479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erahnen | erwähnten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | durch eine Mischung aus Intuition und Erfahrung in seinen wesentlichen Zügen erkennen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erwähnt |
Where the eye mixes erahnen and erwähnten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erahnen runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against erwähnten's 9 (VCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between erahnen and erwähnten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erahnen is [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaːnən] while erwähnten is [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erahnen is recorded at frequency rank #17,276, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaːnən]. erwähnten is at rank #8,203, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntn̩].
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 25479, this pair ranks #1,832,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erahnen vs erwähnten
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "erahnen": a. Private to "erwähnten": twä.
"erahnen" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "erwähnten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- erahnen ← earhnen · erahenn · erahhnen · erahnenn · erahnne · erahnnen · eranhen · erhanen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erahnen" and "erwähnten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "erahnen" or "erwähnten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "erahnen" and "erwähnten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erahnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erwähnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,832,650 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erahnen" and "erwähnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erahnen vs ertönen". 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 #1,832,650 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.