erfreutevserfreutenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,275
“erfreute” frequency rank
#43,149
“erfreuten” frequency rank
70424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erfreute erfreuten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erfreut Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erfreut

Where the eye mixes erfreute and erfreuten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erfreute runs 8 letters (VCCCVVCV) against erfreuten's 9 (VCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
erfreute
9 ch
erfreuten

Look-alike desk: erfreute vs erfreuten

A purely visual mix-up. erfreute ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tə]) and erfreuten ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “erfreute” sits inside “erfreuten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erfreute is recorded at frequency rank #27,275, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tə]. erfreuten is at rank #43,149, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩].

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 70424, this pair ranks #446,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erfreute vs erfreuten

Shared letters: efrtu. Private to "erfreute": -. Private to "erfreuten": n.

"erfreute" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV  ·  "erfreuten" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erfreuteefrreute · erferute · erffreute · erfretue · erfreuet · erfreutte · erfrreute · erfruete
  • erfreutenefrreuten · erferuten · erffreuten · erfretuen · erfreuetn · erfreutenn · erfreutne · erfreutten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erfreute" and "erfreuten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erfreute" or "erfreuten" show up more?
"erfreute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,275 in our German list, against #43,149 for "erfreuten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erfreute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erfreuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #446,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erfreute" and "erfreuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfreuten vs erregten". 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 #446,794 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