erwogenvserzogenTell them apart

Quick tell: erwogen is a verb, erzogen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#25,993
“erwogen” frequency rank
#9,713
“erzogen” frequency rank
35706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erwogen erzogen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs erwägen eine Erziehung durchlaufen habend

Where the eye mixes erwogen and erzogen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erwogen and erzogen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
erwogen
7 ch
erzogen

Look-alike desk: erwogen vs erzogen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erwogen is [ɛɐ̯ˈvoːɡn̩] while erzogen is [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡soːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - w in “erwogen” becomes z in “erzogen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erwogen is recorded at frequency rank #25,993, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvoːɡn̩]. erzogen is at rank #9,713, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡soːɡn̩].

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 35706, this pair ranks #1,633,545 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erwogen vs erzogen

Shared letters: egnor. Private to "erwogen": w. Private to "erzogen": z.

"erwogen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erzogen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erwogen ← erowgen · errwogen · erwgoen · erwoegn · erwogenn · erwoggen · erwogne · erwwogen
  • erzogen ← erozgen · errzogen · erzgoen · erzoegn · erzogenn · erzoggen · erzogne · erzzogen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erwogen" for "erzogen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erwogen" is a verb and "erzogen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erwogen" or "erzogen" show up more?
"erzogen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,713 in our German list, against #25,993 for "erwogen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erwogen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erzogen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,633,545 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erwogen" and "erzogen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ertönen vs erwogen". 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 #1,633,545 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