erreichtenvserrichtetWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: erreichten is a adjective, errichtet is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,940
“erreichten” frequency rank
#3,957
“errichtet” frequency rank
9897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erreichten errichtet
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erreicht Partizip Perfekt des Verbs errichten

Where the eye mixes erreichten and errichtet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erreichten runs 10 letters (VCCVVCCCVC) against errichtet's 9 (VCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
erreichten
9 ch
errichtet

Why the eye confuses erreichten with errichtet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erreichten is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtn̩] while errichtet is [ɛɐ̯ˈʁɪçtət]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erreichten is recorded at frequency rank #5,940, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁaɪ̯çtn̩]. errichtet is at rank #3,957, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁɪçtət].

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 9897, this pair ranks #1,977,772 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erreichten vs errichtet

Shared letters: cehirt. Private to "erreichten": n. Private to "errichtet": -.

"erreichten" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCCVC  ·  "errichtet" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erreichtenereichten · ererichten · errecihten · erreicchten · erreichetn · erreichhten · erreichtenn · erreichtne
  • errichteterichtet · erirchtet · errcihtet · erricchtet · errichett · errichhtet · errichtett · errichtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erreichten" and "errichtet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erreichten" is an adjective and "errichtet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erreichten" or "errichtet" show up more?
"errichtet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,957 in our German list, against #5,940 for "erreichten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erreichten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "errichtet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,977,772 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erreichten" and "errichtet" 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 #1,977,772 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