Which to use
“erteilt” is a verb and “erteilten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,260
- “erteilt” frequency rank
- #29,113
- “erteilten” frequency rank
- 34373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erteilt | erteilten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erteilen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erteilt |
Where the eye mixes erteilt and erteilten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erteilt runs 7 letters (VCCVVCC) against erteilten's 9 (VCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between erteilt and erteilten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erteilt is [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lt] while erteilten is [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯ltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “erteilt” sits inside “erteilten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erteilt is recorded at frequency rank #5,260, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lt]. erteilten is at rank #29,113, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯ltn̩].
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 34373, this pair ranks #1,664,805 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erteilt vs erteilten
Shared letters: eilrt. Private to "erteilt": -. Private to "erteilten": n.
"erteilt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC · "erteilten" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erteilt" and "erteilten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "erteilt" or "erteilten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "erteilt" and "erteilten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erteilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erteilten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,664,805 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erteilt" and "erteilten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erstellten vs erteilten". 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 #1,664,805 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.