erholenvserholteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: erholen is a verb, erholte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erholen” is a verb and “erholte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,466
“erholen” frequency rank
#33,570
“erholte” frequency rank
44036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erholen erholte
Definition sich entspannen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erholt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set erholen and erholte apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
erholen
7 ch
erholte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erholen is [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən] while erholte is [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erholen is recorded at frequency rank #10,466, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən]. erholte is at rank #33,570, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːltə].

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 44036, this pair ranks #1,399,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erholen vs erholte

Shared letters: ehlor. Private to "erholen": n. Private to "erholte": t.

"erholen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erholte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erholenehrolen · erhholen · erhloen · erhoeln · erholenn · erhollen · erholne · erohlen
  • erholteehrolte · erhholte · erhlote · erholet · erhollte · erholtte · erhotle · erohlte

Frequency comparison

erholen#10,466
erholte#33,570

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erholen" and "erholte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erholen" is a verb and "erholte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "erholen" or "erholte"?
"erholen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,466 in our German list, against #33,570 for "erholte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering erholen vs erholte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “erholen”; for an adjective, it's “erholte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “erholen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list