Which to use
“erkrankte” and “erkrankten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,054
- “erkrankte” frequency rank
- #12,902
- “erkrankten” frequency rank
- 26956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erkrankte | erkrankten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkrankt | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erkrankt |
Where the eye mixes erkrankte and erkrankten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. erkrankte runs 9 letters (VCCCVCCCV) against erkrankten's 10 (VCCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: erkrankte vs erkrankten
A purely visual mix-up. erkrankte ([ɛɐ̯ˈkʁaŋktə]) and erkrankten ([ɛɐ̯ˈkʁaŋktn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “erkrankte” sits inside “erkrankten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erkrankte is recorded at frequency rank #14,054, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkʁaŋktə]. erkrankten is at rank #12,902, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkʁaŋktn̩].
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 26956, this pair ranks #1,809,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erkrankte vs erkrankten
Shared letters: aeknrt. Private to "erkrankte": -. Private to "erkrankten": -.
"erkrankte" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV · "erkrankten" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- erkrankte ← ekrrankte · erkarnkte · erkkrankte · erkraknte · erkranket · erkrankkte · erkranktte · erkrannkte
- erkrankten ← ekrrankten · erkarnkten · erkkrankten · erkraknten · erkranketn · erkrankkten · erkranktenn · erkranktne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erkrankte" and "erkrankten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "erkrankte" or "erkrankten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "erkrankte" and "erkrankten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erkrankte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erkrankten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,809,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erkrankte" and "erkrankten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erkrankten vs ertränken". 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 #1,809,600 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.