erinnernvserinnerstWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,509
“erinnern” frequency rank
#16,982
“erinnerst” frequency rank
18491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erinnern erinnerst
Definition im Gedächtnis behalten haben 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erinnern

Where the eye mixes erinnern and erinnerst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
erinnern
9 ch
erinnerst

Visual trap between erinnern and erinnerst

A purely visual mix-up. erinnern ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn]) and erinnerst ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐst]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erinnern is recorded at frequency rank #1,509, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn]. erinnerst is at rank #16,982, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐst].

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 18491, this pair ranks #1,917,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erinnern vs erinnerst

Shared letters: einr. Private to "erinnern": -. Private to "erinnerst": st.

"erinnern" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC  ·  "erinnerst" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erinnerneirnnern · erinenrn · erinern · erinnenr · erinnernn · erinnerrn · erinnren · erninern
  • erinnersteirnnerst · erinenrst · erinerst · erinnerrst · erinnersst · erinnerstt · erinnerts · erinnesrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erinnern" for "erinnerst" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erinnern" or "erinnerst" show up more?
"erinnern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,509 in our German list, against #16,982 for "erinnerst". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "erinnern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erinnerst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,917,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erinnern" and "erinnerst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erinner vs erinnerst". 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 #1,917,687 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