erduldenvserfüllenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,462
“erdulden” frequency rank
#2,709
“erfüllen” frequency rank
45171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erdulden erfüllen
Definition etwas Negatives ohne Widerspruch geduldig über sich ergehen lassen die Gedanken beherrschen, starke Gefühle auslösen

Where the eye mixes erdulden and erfüllen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erdulden and erfüllen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erdulden
8 ch
erfüllen

Visual trap between erdulden and erfüllen

A purely visual mix-up. erdulden ([ɛɐ̯ˈdʊldn̩]) and erfüllen ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʏlən]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erdulden is recorded at frequency rank #42,462, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈdʊldn̩]. erfüllen is at rank #2,709, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfʏlən].

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 45171, this pair ranks #1,362,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erdulden vs erfüllen

Shared letters: elnr. Private to "erdulden": du. Private to "erfüllen": fü.

"erdulden" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "erfüllen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erdulden ← edrulden · erddulden · erdluden · erdudlen · erduldden · erduldenn · erduldne · erduledn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erdulden" and "erfüllen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈdʊldn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈfʏlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erdulden" or "erfüllen" show up more?
"erfüllen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,709 in our German list, against #42,462 for "erdulden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erdulden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erfüllen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,362,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erdulden" and "erfüllen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Erdboden vs erdulden". 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 #1,362,073 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