ernanntvsernanntenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,531
“ernannt” frequency rank
#29,112
“ernannten” frequency rank
35643
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ernannt ernannten
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs ernennen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ernannt

Where the eye mixes ernannt and ernannten

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

7 ch
ernannt
9 ch
ernannten

Visual trap between ernannt and ernannten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ernannt is [ɛɐ̯ˈnant] while ernannten is [ɛɐ̯ˈnantn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ernannt” sits inside “ernannten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ernannt is recorded at frequency rank #6,531, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈnant]. ernannten is at rank #29,112, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈnantn̩].

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 35643, this pair ranks #1,635,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ernannt vs ernannten

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "ernannt": -. Private to "ernannten": -.

"ernannt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "ernannten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ernanntenrannt · erannnt · ernanntt · ernant · ernantn · ernnannt · ernnant · errnannt
  • ernanntenenrannten · erannnten · ernannetn · ernanntenn · ernanntne · ernanntten · ernanten · ernantnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ernannt" and "ernannten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ernannt" is a verb and "ernannten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ernannt" vs "ernannten" - which ranks higher?
"ernannt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,531 in our German list, against #29,112 for "ernannten". 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 "ernannt" and "ernannten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ernannt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ernannten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,635,092 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ernannt" and "ernannten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ergänzten vs ernannten". 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 #1,635,092 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