erahnenvserwähntenWhat's the difference?

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

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set erahnen and erwähnten apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
erahnen
9 ch
erwähnten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • erahnenearhnen · erahenn · erahhnen · erahnenn · erahnne · erahnnen · eranhen · erhanen

Frequency comparison

erahnen#17,276
erwähnten#8,203

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erahnen" and "erwähnten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erahnen" is a verb and "erwähnten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "erahnen" or "erwähnten"?
"erwähnten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,203 in our German list, against #17,276 for "erahnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering erahnen vs erwähnten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “erahnen”; for an adjective, it's “erwähnten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “erahnen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list