erlangtevsernannteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,280
“erlangte” frequency rank
#18,226
“ernannte” frequency rank
35506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erlangte ernannte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erlangt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ernannt

Where the eye mixes erlangte and ernannte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
erlangte
8 ch
ernannte

Why the eye confuses erlangte with ernannte

A purely visual mix-up. erlangte ([ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə]) and ernannte ([ɛɐ̯ˈnantə]) 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 35506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erlangte is recorded at frequency rank #17,280, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə]. ernannte is at rank #18,226, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈnantə].

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 35506, this pair ranks #1,638,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erlangte vs ernannte

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "erlangte": gl. Private to "ernannte": -.

"erlangte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "ernannte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erlangteelrangte · eralngte · erlagnte · erlanget · erlanggte · erlangtte · erlanngte · erlantge
  • ernannteenrannte · erannnte · ernannet · ernanntte · ernante · ernantne · ernnannte · ernnante

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erlangte" for "ernannte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈnantə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erlangte" or "ernannte" show up more?
"erlangte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,280 in our German list, against #18,226 for "ernannte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "erlangte" and "ernannte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erlangte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ernannte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,638,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erlangte" and "ernannte" 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 #1,638,397 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