Which to use
“Ernst” is a noun and “ernsten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #531
- “Ernst” frequency rank
- #17,281
- “ernsten” frequency rank
- 17812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ernst | ernsten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | scherzlose, überlegte und entschiedene Gesinnung; sachlich, aufrichtige Haltung | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ernst |
Where the eye mixes Ernst and ernsten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Ernst vs ernsten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ernst is [ɛʁnst] while ernsten is [ˈɛʁnstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Ernst” sits inside “ernsten”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ernst is recorded at frequency rank #531, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɛʁnst]. ernsten is at rank #17,281, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛʁnstn̩].
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 17812, this pair ranks #1,924,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Ernst vs ernsten
Shared letters: enrst. Private to "Ernst": -. Private to "ernsten": -.
"Ernst" · 5 letters · shape VCCCC · "ernsten" · 7 letters · shape VCCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ernst" for "ernsten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Ernst" vs "ernsten" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Ernst" and "ernsten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ernst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ernsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,924,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ernst" and "ernsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Erbse vs Ernst". 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 #1,924,031 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.