erhelltvserteiltWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,916
“erhellt” frequency rank
#5,260
“erteilt” frequency rank
45176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhellt erteilt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erhellen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erteilen

Where the eye mixes erhellt and erteilt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
erhellt
7 ch
erteilt

Visual trap between erhellt and erteilt

A purely visual mix-up. erhellt ([ɛɐ̯ˈhɛlt]) and erteilt ([ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lt]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhellt is recorded at frequency rank #39,916, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhɛlt]. erteilt is at rank #5,260, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lt].

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 45176, this pair ranks #1,361,917 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhellt vs erteilt

Shared letters: elrt. Private to "erhellt": h. Private to "erteilt": i.

"erhellt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "erteilt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhelltehrellt · erehllt · erhelltt · erhelt · erheltl · erhhellt · erhlelt · errhellt
  • erteilteretilt · errteilt · erteillt · erteiltt · erteitl · ertelit · ertielt · ertteilt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erhellt" and "erteilt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhɛlt] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erhellt" or "erteilt" show up more?
"erteilt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,260 in our German list, against #39,916 for "erhellt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhellt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erteilt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,361,917 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhellt" and "erteilt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhellen vs erhellt". 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 #1,361,917 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