erledigenvserledigteTell them apart

Quick tell: erledigen is a verb, erledigte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erledigen” is a verb and “erledigte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,078
“erledigen” frequency rank
#34,075
“erledigte” frequency rank
39153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erledigen erledigte
Definition etwas fertig machen; zu Ende bringen; eine Arbeit tun, die noch aussteht Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erledigt

Where the eye mixes erledigen and erledigte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erledigen (VCCVCVCVC) and erledigte (VCCVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
erledigen
9 ch
erledigte

Look-alike desk: erledigen vs erledigte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erledigen is [ɛɐ̯ˈleːdɪɡn̩] while erledigte is [ɛɐ̯ˈleːdɪçtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erledigen is recorded at frequency rank #5,078, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈleːdɪɡn̩]. erledigte is at rank #34,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈleːdɪçtə].

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 39153, this pair ranks #1,544,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erledigen vs erledigte

Shared letters: degilr. Private to "erledigen": n. Private to "erledigte": t.

"erledigen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "erledigte" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erledigen ← elredigen · ereldigen · erldeigen · erleddigen · erledgien · erlediegn · erledigenn · erlediggen
  • erledigte ← elredigte · ereldigte · erldeigte · erleddigte · erledgite · erlediget · erlediggte · erledigtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erledigen" and "erledigte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erledigen" is a verb and "erledigte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erledigen" or "erledigte" show up more?
"erledigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,078 in our German list, against #34,075 for "erledigte". 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 "erledigen" and "erledigte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erledigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erledigte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,544,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erledigen" and "erledigte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erledige vs erledigte". 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 #1,544,659 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