Which to use
“erinnern” is a verb and “erinnerten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,509
- “erinnern” frequency rank
- #28,176
- “erinnerten” frequency rank
- 29685
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erinnern | erinnerten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | im Gedächtnis behalten haben | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erinnert |
Where the eye mixes erinnern and erinnerten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erinnern runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCC) against erinnerten's 10 (VCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between erinnern and erinnerten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erinnern is [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn] while erinnerten is [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29685, 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]. erinnerten is at rank #28,176, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐtn̩].
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 29685, this pair ranks #1,762,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erinnern vs erinnerten
Shared letters: einr. Private to "erinnern": -. Private to "erinnerten": t.
"erinnern" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC · "erinnerten" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- erinnern ← eirnnern · erinenrn · erinern · erinnenr · erinnernn · erinnerrn · erinnren · erninern
- erinnerten ← eirnnerten · erinenrten · erinerten · erinneretn · erinnerrten · erinnertenn · erinnertne · erinnertten
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "erinnern" for "erinnerten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "erinnern" or "erinnerten" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "erinnern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erinnerten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,762,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erinnern" and "erinnerten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erinner vs erinnern". 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 #1,762,181 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.