erzielenvserzielteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,195
“erzielen” frequency rank
#4,117
“erzielte” frequency rank
8312
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erzielen erzielte
Definition etwas Anvisiertes (Angestrebtes) erreichen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erzielt

Where the eye mixes erzielen and erzielte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erzielen (VCCVVCVC) and erzielte (VCCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
erzielen
8 ch
erzielte

Why the eye confuses erzielen with erzielte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erzielen is [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːlən] while erzielte is [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːltə]. 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 8312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erzielen is recorded at frequency rank #4,195, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːlən]. 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 8312, this pair ranks #1,984,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erzielen vs erzielte

Shared letters: eilrz. Private to "erzielen": n. Private to "erzielte": t.

"erzielen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "erzielte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erzielenerizelen · errzielen · erzeilen · erzieeln · erzielenn · erziellen · erzielne · erzileen
  • erzielteerizelte · errzielte · erzeilte · erzielet · erziellte · erzieltte · erzietle · erzilete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erzielen" and "erzielte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erzielen" is a verb and "erzielte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "erzielen" or "erzielte"?
"erzielte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,117 in our German list, against #4,195 for "erzielen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "erzielen" and "erzielte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erzielen" 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 #1,984,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erzielen" and "erzielte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erzieht vs erzielte". 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 #1,984,790 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