forderevsfordertenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,430
“fordere” frequency rank
#12,493
“forderten” frequency rank
23923
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fordere forderten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fordern 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs fordern

Where the eye mixes fordere and forderten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fordere runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against forderten's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
fordere
9 ch
forderten

Visual trap between fordere and forderten

A purely visual mix-up. fordere ([ˈfɔʁdəʁə]) and forderten ([ˈfɔʁdɐtn̩]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fordere is recorded at frequency rank #11,430, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfɔʁdəʁə]. forderten is at rank #12,493, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfɔʁdɐtn̩].

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 23923, this pair ranks #1,854,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fordere vs forderten

Shared letters: defor. Private to "fordere": -. Private to "forderten": nt.

"fordere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "forderten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fordereffordere · fodrere · forddere · fordeer · forderre · fordree · foredre · forrdere
  • fordertenfforderten · fodrerten · fordderten · forderetn · forderrten · fordertenn · fordertne · fordertten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fordere" and "forderten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɔʁdəʁə] versus [ˈfɔʁdɐtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fordere" or "forderten"?
"fordere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,430 in our German list, against #12,493 for "forderten". 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 "fordere" and "forderten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fordere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forderten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,854,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fordere" and "forderten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fordere vs friere". 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 #1,854,754 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