erfordernvserfordertWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,074
“erfordern” frequency rank
#5,076
“erfordert” frequency rank
15150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erfordern erfordert
Definition etwas unbedingt verlangen, etwas notwendig machen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erfordern

Where the eye mixes erfordern and erfordert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erfordern and erfordert follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
erfordern
9 ch
erfordert

Visual trap between erfordern and erfordert

A purely visual mix-up. erfordern ([ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]) and erfordert ([ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “erfordern” becomes t in “erfordert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erfordern is recorded at frequency rank #10,074, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]. erfordert is at rank #5,076, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐt].

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 15150, this pair ranks #1,946,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erfordern vs erfordert

Shared letters: defor. Private to "erfordern": n. Private to "erfordert": t.

"erfordern" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC  ·  "erfordert" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erfordern ← efrordern · erffordern · erfodrern · erforddern · erfordenr · erfordernn · erforderrn · erfordren
  • erfordert ← efrordert · erffordert · erfodrert · erforddert · erforderrt · erfordertt · erfordetr · erfordret

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erfordern" and "erfordert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erfordern" vs "erfordert" - which ranks higher?
"erfordert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,076 in our German list, against #10,074 for "erfordern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erfordern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erfordert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erfordern" and "erfordert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfordern vs Erfordernis". 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 #1,946,029 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