Which to use
“erkannte” and “erwähnte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,418
- “erkannte” frequency rank
- #6,788
- “erwähnte” frequency rank
- 13206
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erkannte | erwähnte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkannt | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erwähnt |
Where the eye mixes erkannte and erwähnte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erkannte and erwähnte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses erkannte with erwähnte
A purely visual mix-up. erkannte ([ɛɐ̯ˈkantə]) and erwähnte ([ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntə]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13206, 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]. erwähnte is at rank #6,788, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntə].
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 13206, this pair ranks #1,959,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erkannte vs erwähnte
Shared letters: enrt. Private to "erkannte": ak. Private to "erwähnte": hwä.
"erkannte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV · "erwähnte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- erkannte ← ekrannte · eraknnte · erkannet · erkanntte · erkante · erkantne · erkkannte · erknante
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erkannte" and "erwähnte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "erkannte" or "erwähnte" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "erkannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erwähnte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,959,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erkannte" and "erwähnte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erwähnst vs erwähnte". 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 #1,959,428 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.