ernanntenvserwähntenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,112
“ernannten” frequency rank
#8,203
“erwähnten” frequency rank
37315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ernannten erwähnten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ernannt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erwähnt

Where the eye mixes ernannten and erwähnten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ernannten and erwähnten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
ernannten
9 ch
erwähnten

Look-alike desk: ernannten vs erwähnten

A purely visual mix-up. ernannten ([ɛɐ̯ˈnantn̩]) and erwähnten ([ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntn̩]) 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 37315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ernannten is recorded at frequency rank #29,112, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈnantn̩]. erwähnten is at rank #8,203, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntn̩].

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 37315, this pair ranks #1,593,417 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ernannten vs erwähnten

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "ernannten": a. Private to "erwähnten": hwä.

"ernannten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC  ·  "erwähnten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ernanntenenrannten · erannnten · ernannetn · ernanntenn · ernanntne · ernanntten · ernanten · ernantnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ernannten" for "erwähnten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈnantn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ernannten" vs "erwähnten" - which ranks higher?
"erwähnten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,203 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ernannten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erwähnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,593,417 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ernannten" and "erwähnten" 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 #1,593,417 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