fotografierevsfotografiertWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,683
“fotografiere” frequency rank
#9,023
“fotografiert” frequency rank
58706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fotografiere fotografiert
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fotografieren Partizip Perfekt des Verbs fotografieren

Where the eye mixes fotografiere and fotografiert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. fotografiere (CVCVCCVCVVCV) and fotografiert (CVCVCCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

12 ch
fotografiere
12 ch
fotografiert

Why the eye confuses fotografiere with fotografiert

A purely visual mix-up. fotografiere ([fotoɡʁaˈfiːʁə]) and fotografiert ([fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯t]) 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 a single letter - e in “fotografiere” becomes t in “fotografiert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fotografiere is recorded at frequency rank #49,683, classified as averb, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːʁə]. fotografiert is at rank #9,023, tagged as averb, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯t].

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 58706, this pair ranks #852,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fotografiere vs fotografiert

Shared letters: aefgiort. Private to "fotografiere": -. Private to "fotografiert": -.

"fotografiere" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVCV  ·  "fotografiert" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fotografiere ← ffotografiere · footgrafiere · fotgorafiere · fotogarfiere · fotoggrafiere · fotografeire · fotograffiere · fotografieer
  • fotografiert ← ffotografiert · footgrafiert · fotgorafiert · fotogarfiert · fotoggrafiert · fotografeirt · fotograffiert · fotografierrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fotografiere" for "fotografiert" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fotoɡʁaˈfiːʁə] versus [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fotografiere" vs "fotografiert" - which ranks higher?
"fotografiert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,023 in our German list, against #49,683 for "fotografiere". 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 "fotografiere" and "fotografiert" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fotografiere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fotografiert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #852,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fotografiere" and "fotografiert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fotografiere vs fotografierte". 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 #852,401 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