erregenvserregtenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#17,875
“erregen” frequency rank
#47,362
“erregten” frequency rank
65237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erregen erregten
Definition jemanden oder sich in Unruhe oder Ärger versetzen; jemanden aktivieren; jemanden (sexuell) stimulieren Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erregt

Where the eye mixes erregen and erregten

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

7 ch
erregen
8 ch
erregten

Look-alike desk: erregen vs erregten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erregen is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩] while erregten is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːktn̩]. 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 65237, 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]. erregten is at rank #47,362, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːktn̩].

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 65237, this pair ranks #613,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erregen vs erregten

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "erregen": -. Private to "erregten": t.

"erregen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erregten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erregeneregen · erergen · erreegn · erregenn · erreggen · erregne · errgeen · reregen
  • erregteneregten · erergten · erregetn · erreggten · erregtenn · erregtne · erregtten · erretgen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erregen" and "erregten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erregen" is a verb and "erregten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "erregen" vs "erregten" - which ranks higher?
"erregen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,875 in our German list, against #47,362 for "erregten". 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 "erregten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #613,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erregen" and "erregten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfreuten 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 #613,813 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