etwavsextraConfusable pair

Which to use

“etwa” and “extra” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#220
“etwa” frequency rank
#1,767
“extra” frequency rank
1987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature etwa extra
Definition ungefähr außerdem, zusätzlich

Where the eye mixes etwa and extra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
etwa
5 ch
extra

Look-alike desk: etwa vs extra

A purely visual mix-up. etwa ([ˈɛtva]) and extra ([ˈɛkstʁa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

etwa is recorded at frequency rank #220, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈɛtva]. extra is at rank #1,767, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɛkstʁa].

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 1987, this pair ranks #2,003,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of etwa vs extra

Shared letters: aet. Private to "etwa": w. Private to "extra": rx.

"etwa" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "extra" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • etwaetaw · ettwa · etwwa · ewta · tewa
  • extraetxra · exrta · extar · extrra · exttra · exxtra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "etwa" for "extra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛtva] versus [ˈɛkstʁa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "etwa" or "extra"?
"etwa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #220 in our German list, against #1,767 for "extra". 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 "etwa" and "extra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "etwa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,003,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "etwa" and "extra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Esra vs extra". 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 #2,003,322 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