erfahrevsernährtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,792
“erfahre” frequency rank
#14,057
“ernährt” frequency rank
28849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erfahre ernährt
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erfahren Partizip Perfekt des Verbs ernähren

Where the eye mixes erfahre and ernährt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. erfahre (VCCVCCV) and ernährt (VCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
erfahre
7 ch
ernährt

Look-alike desk: erfahre vs ernährt

A purely visual mix-up. erfahre ([ɛɐ̯ˈfaːʁə]) and ernährt ([ɛɐ̯ˈnɛːɐ̯t]) 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 28849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erfahre is recorded at frequency rank #14,792, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfaːʁə]. ernährt is at rank #14,057, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈnɛːɐ̯t].

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 28849, this pair ranks #1,777,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erfahre vs ernährt

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "erfahre": af. Private to "ernährt": ntä.

"erfahre" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "ernährt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erfahreefrahre · erafhre · erfaher · erfahhre · erfahrre · erfarhe · erffahre · erfhare

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erfahre" and "ernährt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈfaːʁə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈnɛːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erfahre" or "ernährt" show up more?
"ernährt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,057 in our German list, against #14,792 for "erfahre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erfahre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ernährt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,777,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erfahre" and "ernährt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfahre vs ernähre". 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 #1,777,490 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