erringenvserrungenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,203
“erringen” frequency rank
#19,559
“errungen” frequency rank
38762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erringen errungen
Definition etwas erhalten/gewinnen, indem man sich sehr darum bemüht (ringt) und Einsatz zeigt Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erringen

Where the eye mixes erringen and errungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erringen and errungen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erringen
8 ch
errungen

Look-alike desk: erringen vs errungen

A purely visual mix-up. erringen ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁɪŋən]) 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 a single letter - i in “erringen” becomes u in “errungen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erringen is recorded at frequency rank #19,203, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁɪŋən]. 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 38762, this pair ranks #1,555,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erringen vs errungen

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "erringen": i. Private to "errungen": u.

"erringen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "errungen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erringen ← eringen · erirngen · errignen · errinegn · erringenn · erringgen · erringne · errinngen
  • errungen ← errnugen · errugnen · errunegn · errungenn · errunggen · errungne · errunngen · erungen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erringen" and "errungen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁɪŋən] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʁʊŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erringen" vs "errungen" - which ranks higher?
"erringen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,203 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erringen" 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 #1,555,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erringen" and "errungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhängen vs errungen". 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 #1,555,288 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