Which to use
“erreichen” is a verb and “erreichten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #826
- “erreichen” frequency rank
- #5,940
- “erreichten” frequency rank
- 6766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erreichen | erreichten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zu jemandem oder zu etwas hingelangen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erreicht |
Where the eye mixes erreichen and erreichten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. erreichen runs 9 letters (VCCVVCCVC) against erreichten's 10 (VCCVVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: erreichen vs erreichten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erreichen is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩] while erreichten is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtn̩]. 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 6766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erreichen is recorded at frequency rank #826, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩]. erreichten is at rank #5,940, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtn̩].
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 6766, this pair ranks #1,990,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erreichen vs erreichten
Shared letters: cehinr. Private to "erreichen": -. Private to "erreichten": t.
"erreichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC · "erreichten" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- erreichen ← ereichen · ererichen · errecihen · erreicchen · erreicehn · erreichenn · erreichhen · erreichne
- erreichten ← ereichten · ererichten · errecihten · erreicchten · erreichetn · erreichhten · erreichtenn · erreichtne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "erreichen" for "erreichten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "erreichen" or "erreichten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "erreichen" and "erreichten" 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 "erreichten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,990,515 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erreichen" and "erreichten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erleuchten vs erreichten". 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 #1,990,515 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.