Which to use
“erkannten” is an adjective and “erkennen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,874
- “erkannten” frequency rank
- #1,054
- “erkennen” frequency rank
- 19928
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erkannten | erkennen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkannt | etwas oder jemanden so deutlich wahrnehmen, dass man weiß, was oder wer es ist (im Sinne von etwas wiedererkennen) |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set erkannten and erkennen apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
erkannten and erkennen form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erkannten is recorded at frequency rank #18,874, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkantn̩]. erkennen is at rank #1,054, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən].
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 19928, this pair ranks #1,903,129 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "erkannten" and "erkennen" be used interchangeably?
Remembering erkannten vs erkennen
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “erkannten”; for a verb, it's “erkennen”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “erkannten” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable