erhaltenvserhaltetConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#418
“erhalten” frequency rank
#42,465
“erhaltet” frequency rank
42883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhalten erhaltet
Definition etwas bekommen, empfangen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhalten

Where the eye mixes erhalten and erhaltet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erhalten and erhaltet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erhalten
8 ch
erhaltet

Look-alike desk: erhalten vs erhaltet

A purely visual mix-up. erhalten ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltn̩]) and erhaltet ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltət]) 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 “erhalten” becomes t in “erhaltet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhalten is recorded at frequency rank #418, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltn̩]. erhaltet is at rank #42,465, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltət].

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 42883, this pair ranks #1,435,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhalten vs erhaltet

Shared letters: aehlrt. Private to "erhalten": n. Private to "erhaltet": -.

"erhalten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "erhaltet" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhaltenehralten · erahlten · erhaletn · erhallten · erhaltenn · erhaltne · erhaltten · erhatlen
  • erhaltetehraltet · erahltet · erhalett · erhalltet · erhaltett · erhalttet · erhatlet · erhhaltet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erhalten" and "erhaltet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erhalten" vs "erhaltet" - which ranks higher?
"erhalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #418 in our German list, against #42,465 for "erhaltet". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erhaltet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,435,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhalten" and "erhaltet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhaltet vs erhärtet". 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 #1,435,482 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