erregenvsErregerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: erregen is a verb, Erreger is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erregen” is a verb and “Erreger” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,875
“erregen” frequency rank
#14,794
“Erreger” frequency rank
32669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erregen Erreger
Definition jemanden oder sich in Unruhe oder Ärger versetzen; jemanden aktivieren; jemanden (sexuell) stimulieren Auslöser einer Krankheit

Where the eye mixes erregen and Erreger

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

7 ch
erregen
7 ch
Erreger

Visual trap between erregen and Erreger

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erregen is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩] while Erreger is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “erregen” becomes r in “Erreger”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erregen is recorded at frequency rank #17,875, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩]. Erreger is at rank #14,794, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡɐ].

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 32669, this pair ranks #1,702,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erregen vs Erreger

Shared letters: egr. Private to "erregen": n. Private to "Erreger": -.

"erregen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "Erreger" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erregen ← eregen · erergen · erreegn · erregenn · erreggen · erregne · errgeen · reregen
  • Erreger ← ereger · ererger · erreegr · erregerr · erregger · erregre · errgeer · rereger

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erregen" for "Erreger" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erregen" is a verb and "Erreger" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "erregen" vs "Erreger" - which ranks higher?
"Erreger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,794 in our German list, against #17,875 for "erregen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erregen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Erreger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,702,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erregen" and "Erreger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erregen vs erregten". 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 #1,702,629 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