erkanntevserlangteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,418
“erkannte” frequency rank
#17,280
“erlangte” frequency rank
23698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erkannte erlangte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkannt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erlangt

Where the eye mixes erkannte and erlangte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erkannte and erlangte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erkannte
8 ch
erlangte

Why the eye confuses erkannte with erlangte

A purely visual mix-up. erkannte ([ɛɐ̯ˈkantə]) and erlangte ([ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə]) 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 23698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erkannte is recorded at frequency rank #6,418, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkantə]. erlangte is at rank #17,280, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə].

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 23698, this pair ranks #1,857,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erkannte vs erlangte

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "erkannte": k. Private to "erlangte": gl.

"erkannte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "erlangte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erkannteekrannte · eraknnte · erkannet · erkanntte · erkante · erkantne · erkkannte · erknante
  • erlangteelrangte · eralngte · erlagnte · erlanget · erlanggte · erlangtte · erlanngte · erlantge

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erkannte" and "erlangte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈkantə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erkannte" vs "erlangte" - which ranks higher?
"erkannte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,418 in our German list, against #17,280 for "erlangte". 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 "erkannte" and "erlangte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erkannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erlangte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,857,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erkannte" and "erlangte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Erlanger vs erlangte". 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 #1,857,822 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