erreichenvserreichteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#826
“erreichen” frequency rank
#3,520
“erreichte” frequency rank
4346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erreichen erreichte
Definition zu jemandem oder zu etwas hingelangen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erreicht

Where the eye mixes erreichen and erreichte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erreichen (VCCVVCCVC) and erreichte (VCCVVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
erreichen
9 ch
erreichte

Why the eye confuses erreichen with erreichte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erreichen is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩] while erreichte is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erreichen is recorded at frequency rank #826, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩]. erreichte is at rank #3,520, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtə].

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 4346, this pair ranks #1,997,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erreichen vs erreichte

Shared letters: cehir. Private to "erreichen": n. Private to "erreichte": t.

"erreichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC  ·  "erreichte" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erreichenereichen · ererichen · errecihen · erreicchen · erreicehn · erreichenn · erreichhen · erreichne
  • erreichteereichte · ererichte · errecihte · erreicchte · erreichet · erreichhte · erreichtte · erreicthe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erreichen" and "erreichte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erreichen" is a verb and "erreichte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "erreichen" or "erreichte"?
"erreichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #826 in our German list, against #3,520 for "erreichte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erreichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erreichte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erreichen" and "erreichte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "errechnen vs erreichen". 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 #1,997,961 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