erziehtvserzielteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,327
“erzieht” frequency rank
#4,117
“erzielte” frequency rank
43444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erzieht erzielte
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erziehen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erzielt

Where the eye mixes erzieht and erzielte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erzieht runs 7 letters (VCCVVCC) against erzielte's 8 (VCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erzieht
8 ch
erzielte

Look-alike desk: erzieht vs erzielte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erzieht is [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːt] while erzielte is [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erzieht is recorded at frequency rank #39,327, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːt]. erzielte is at rank #4,117, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːltə].

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 43444, this pair ranks #1,417,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erzieht vs erzielte

Shared letters: eirtz. Private to "erzieht": h. Private to "erzielte": l.

"erzieht" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC  ·  "erzielte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erziehterizeht · errzieht · erzeiht · erziehht · erziehtt · erzieth · erzihet · erzzieht
  • erzielteerizelte · errzielte · erzeilte · erzielet · erziellte · erzieltte · erzietle · erzilete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erzieht" for "erzielte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erzieht" is a verb and "erzielte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "erzieht" vs "erzielte" - which ranks higher?
"erzielte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,117 in our German list, against #39,327 for "erzieht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erzieht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erzielte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,417,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erzieht" and "erzielte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erliegt vs erzieht". 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 #1,417,909 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