ermahntvserzähltConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#30,538
“ermahnt” frequency rank
#926
“erzählt” frequency rank
31464
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ermahnt erzählt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs ermahnen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erzählen

Where the eye mixes ermahnt and erzählt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ermahnt and erzählt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
ermahnt
7 ch
erzählt

Why the eye confuses ermahnt with erzählt

A purely visual mix-up. ermahnt ([ɛɐ̯ˈmaːnt]) and erzählt ([ɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛːlt]) 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 31464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ermahnt is recorded at frequency rank #30,538, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈmaːnt]. erzählt is at rank #926, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛːlt].

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 31464, this pair ranks #1,727,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ermahnt vs erzählt

Shared letters: ehrt. Private to "ermahnt": amn. Private to "erzählt": lzä.

"ermahnt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "erzählt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ermahnt ← emrahnt · eramhnt · ermahhnt · ermahnnt · ermahntt · ermahtn · ermanht · ermhant

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ermahnt" for "erzählt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈmaːnt] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛːlt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ermahnt" or "erzählt"?
"erzählt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #926 in our German list, against #30,538 for "ermahnt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ermahnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erzählt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,727,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ermahnt" and "erzählt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ermahnt vs erwähnst". 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 #1,727,560 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