erwähltvserwärmtWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#26,395
“erwählt” frequency rank
#23,508
“erwärmt” frequency rank
49903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erwählt erwärmt
Definition für eine bestimmte Aufgabe ausgesucht, bevorzugt Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erwärmen

Where the eye mixes erwählt and erwärmt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erwählt and erwärmt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
erwählt
7 ch
erwärmt

Why the eye confuses erwählt with erwärmt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erwählt is [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːlt] while erwärmt is [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛʁmt]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erwählt is recorded at frequency rank #26,395, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛːlt]. erwärmt is at rank #23,508, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɛʁmt].

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 49903, this pair ranks #1,194,034 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erwählt vs erwärmt

Shared letters: ertwä. Private to "erwählt": hl. Private to "erwärmt": m.

"erwählt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "erwärmt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erwählt" for "erwärmt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erwählt" is an adjective and "erwärmt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erwählt" or "erwärmt" show up more?
"erwärmt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,508 in our German list, against #26,395 for "erwählt". 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 "erwählt" and "erwärmt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erwählt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erwärmt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,194,034 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erwählt" and "erwärmt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erwählt vs erwähnst". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,194,034 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