fordertevsfordertenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,701
“forderte” frequency rank
#12,493
“forderten” frequency rank
17194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes forderte and forderten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. forderte runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against forderten's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
forderte
9 ch
forderten

Why the eye confuses forderte with forderten

A purely visual mix-up. forderte ([ˈfɔʁdɐtə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “forderte” sits inside “forderten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forderte is recorded at frequency rank #4,701, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfɔʁdɐtə]. 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 17194, this pair ranks #1,929,552 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forderte vs forderten

Shared letters: defort. Private to "forderte": -. Private to "forderten": n.

"forderte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "forderten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fordertefforderte · fodrerte · fordderte · forderet · forderrte · fordertte · fordetre · fordrete
  • fordertenfforderten · fodrerten · fordderten · forderetn · forderrten · fordertenn · fordertne · fordertten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "forderte" for "forderten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɔʁdɐtə] versus [ˈfɔʁdɐtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "forderte" or "forderten"?
"forderte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,701 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "forderte" 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 #1,929,552 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forderte" and "forderten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forderte vs formierte". 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 #1,929,552 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