ermordenvsermordeteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#16,983
“ermorden” frequency rank
#27,707
“ermordete” frequency rank
44690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ermorden ermordete
Definition mit Vorsatz einen Mord begehen, jemanden umbringen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ermordet

Where the eye mixes ermorden and ermordete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ermorden runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against ermordete's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
ermorden
9 ch
ermordete

Look-alike desk: ermorden vs ermordete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ermorden is [ɛɐ̯ˈmɔʁdn̩] while ermordete is [ɛɐ̯ˈmɔʁdətə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ermorden is recorded at frequency rank #16,983, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈmɔʁdn̩]. ermordete is at rank #27,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈmɔʁdətə].

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 44690, this pair ranks #1,377,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ermorden vs ermordete

Shared letters: demor. Private to "ermorden": n. Private to "ermordete": t.

"ermorden" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "ermordete" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ermorden ← emrorden · ermmorden · ermodren · ermordden · ermordenn · ermordne · ermoredn · ermorrden
  • ermordete ← emrordete · ermmordete · ermodrete · ermorddete · ermordeet · ermordette · ermordtee · ermoredte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ermorden" and "ermordete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ermorden" is a verb and "ermordete" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ermorden" or "ermordete" show up more?
"ermorden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,983 in our German list, against #27,707 for "ermordete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ermorden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ermordete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,377,953 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ermorden" and "ermordete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erforderte vs ermordete". 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 #1,377,953 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