Which to use
“erwischen” is a verb and “erwischte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,592
- “erwischen” frequency rank
- #23,923
- “erwischte” frequency rank
- 37515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erwischen | erwischte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden oder etwas in die Hände, in die Gewalt, zu fassen bekommen, festhalten | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs erwischt |
Where the eye mixes erwischen and erwischte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. erwischen (VCCVCCCVC) and erwischte (VCCVCCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses erwischen with erwischte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erwischen is [ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʃn̩] while erwischte is [ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʃtə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erwischen is recorded at frequency rank #13,592, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʃn̩]. erwischte is at rank #23,923, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʃtə].
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 37515, this pair ranks #1,588,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erwischen vs erwischte
Shared letters: cehirsw. Private to "erwischen": n. Private to "erwischte": t.
"erwischen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC · "erwischte" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erwischen" and "erwischte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "erwischen" vs "erwischte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "erwischen" and "erwischte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erwischen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erwischte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,588,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erwischen" and "erwischte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erwischte vs erwünschte". 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 #1,588,192 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.