ergänztevserkannteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,076
“ergänzte” frequency rank
#6,418
“erkannte” frequency rank
21494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergänzte erkannte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ergänzt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkannt

Where the eye mixes ergänzte and erkannte

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

8 ch
ergänzte
8 ch
erkannte

Look-alike desk: ergänzte vs erkannte

A purely visual mix-up. ergänzte ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stə]) and erkannte ([ɛɐ̯ˈkantə]) 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 21494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ergänzte is recorded at frequency rank #15,076, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stə]. erkannte is at rank #6,418, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkantə].

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 21494, this pair ranks #1,885,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ergänzte vs erkannte

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "ergänzte": gzä. Private to "erkannte": ak.

"ergänzte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "erkannte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erkannteekrannte · eraknnte · erkannet · erkanntte · erkante · erkantne · erkkannte · erknante

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ergänzte" and "erkannte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈkantə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ergänzte" vs "erkannte" - which ranks higher?
"erkannte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,418 in our German list, against #15,076 for "ergänzte". 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 "ergänzte" and "erkannte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ergänzte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erkannte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,885,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergänzte" and "erkannte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ergänze vs ergänzte". 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 #1,885,613 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