erfreutevserregteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,275
“erfreute” frequency rank
#17,283
“erregte” frequency rank
44558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erfreute erregte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erfreut Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erregt

Where the eye mixes erfreute and erregte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erfreute runs 8 letters (VCCCVVCV) against erregte's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
erfreute
7 ch
erregte

Why the eye confuses erfreute with erregte

A purely visual mix-up. erfreute ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tə]) and erregte ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːktə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44558, 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]. erregte is at rank #17,283, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːktə].

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 44558, this pair ranks #1,382,303 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erfreute vs erregte

Shared letters: ert. Private to "erfreute": fu. Private to "erregte": g.

"erfreute" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV  ·  "erregte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erfreute ← efrreute · erferute · erffreute · erfretue · erfreuet · erfreutte · erfrreute · erfruete
  • erregte ← eregte · erergte · erreget · erreggte · erregtte · erretge · errgete · reregte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erfreute" and "erregte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈfʁɔɪ̯tə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erfreute" or "erregte" show up more?
"erregte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,283 in our German list, against #27,275 for "erfreute". 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 "erfreute" and "erregte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erfreute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erregte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,382,303 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erfreute" and "erregte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfreute vs erfreuten". 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 #1,382,303 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