ergänztenvserkanntenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,464
“ergänzten” frequency rank
#18,874
“erkannten” frequency rank
61338
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergänzten erkannten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ergänzt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkannt

Where the eye mixes ergänzten and erkannten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ergänzten and erkannten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
ergänzten
9 ch
erkannten

Visual trap between ergänzten and erkannten

A purely visual mix-up. ergänzten ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stn̩]) and erkannten ([ɛɐ̯ˈkantn̩]) 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 61338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ergänzten is recorded at frequency rank #42,464, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stn̩]. erkannten is at rank #18,874, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkantn̩].

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 61338, this pair ranks #753,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ergänzten vs erkannten

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "ergänzten": gzä. Private to "erkannten": ak.

"ergänzten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC  ·  "erkannten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erkannten ← ekrannten · eraknnten · erkannetn · erkanntenn · erkanntne · erkanntten · erkanten · erkantnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ergänzten" and "erkannten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡɛnt͡stn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈkantn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ergänzten" or "erkannten" show up more?
"erkannten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,874 in our German list, against #42,464 for "ergänzten". 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 "ergänzten" and "erkannten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ergänzten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erkannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #753,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergänzten" and "erkannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ergänze vs ergänzten". 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 #753,537 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