erregenvserrungenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,875
“erregen” frequency rank
#19,559
“errungen” frequency rank
37434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erregen errungen
Definition jemanden oder sich in Unruhe oder Ärger versetzen; jemanden aktivieren; jemanden (sexuell) stimulieren Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erringen

Where the eye mixes erregen and errungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erregen runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against errungen's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erregen
8 ch
errungen

Visual trap between erregen and errungen

A purely visual mix-up. erregen ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩]) and errungen ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁʊŋən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37434, 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]. errungen is at rank #19,559, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁʊŋən].

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 37434, this pair ranks #1,590,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erregen vs errungen

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "erregen": -. Private to "errungen": u.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erregen ← eregen · erergen · erreegn · erregenn · erreggen · erregne · errgeen · reregen
  • errungen ← errnugen · errugnen · errunegn · errungenn · errunggen · errungne · errunngen · erungen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erregen" for "errungen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʁʊŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erregen" or "errungen" show up more?
"erregen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,875 in our German list, against #19,559 for "errungen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erregen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "errungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erregen" and "errungen" 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 #1,590,336 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