erhaltenervserhaltenesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,356
“erhaltener” frequency rank
#43,845
“erhaltenes” frequency rank
91201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhaltener erhaltenes
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erhalten Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erhalten

Where the eye mixes erhaltener and erhaltenes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. erhaltener and erhaltenes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
erhaltener
10 ch
erhaltenes

Why the eye confuses erhaltener with erhaltenes

A purely visual mix-up. erhaltener ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənɐ]) and erhaltenes ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənəs]) 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 - r in “erhaltener” becomes s in “erhaltenes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhaltener is recorded at frequency rank #47,356, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənɐ]. erhaltenes is at rank #43,845, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənəs].

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 91201, this pair ranks #39,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erhaltener vs erhaltenes

Shared letters: aehlnrt. Private to "erhaltener": -. Private to "erhaltenes": s.

"erhaltener" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC  ·  "erhaltenes" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhaltener ← ehraltener · erahltener · erhaletner · erhalltener · erhalteenr · erhaltenerr · erhaltenner · erhaltenre
  • erhaltenes ← ehraltenes · erahltenes · erhaletnes · erhalltenes · erhalteens · erhalteness · erhaltennes · erhaltense

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erhaltener" and "erhaltenes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənɐ] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltənəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erhaltener" or "erhaltenes" show up more?
"erhaltenes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,845 in our German list, against #47,356 for "erhaltener". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "erhaltener" and "erhaltenes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhaltener" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erhaltenes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,971 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhaltener" and "erhaltenes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhaltene vs erhaltener". 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 #39,971 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