fotografiertvsfotografierteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,023
“fotografiert” frequency rank
#34,659
“fotografierte” frequency rank
43682
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fotografiert fotografierte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs fotografieren Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs fotografiert

Where the eye mixes fotografiert and fotografierte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. fotografiert runs 12 letters (CVCVCCVCVVCC) against fotografierte's 13 (CVCVCCVCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
fotografiert
13 ch
fotografierte

Visual trap between fotografiert and fotografierte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fotografiert is [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯t] while fotografierte is [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fotografiert” sits inside “fotografierte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fotografiert is recorded at frequency rank #9,023, classified as averb, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯t]. fotografierte is at rank #34,659, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fotoɡʁaˈfiːɐ̯tə].

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 43682, this pair ranks #1,410,267 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fotografiert vs fotografierte

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

"fotografiert" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVCC  ·  "fotografierte" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fotografiert ← ffotografiert · footgrafiert · fotgorafiert · fotogarfiert · fotoggrafiert · fotografeirt · fotograffiert · fotografierrt
  • fotografierte ← ffotografierte · footgrafierte · fotgorafierte · fotogarfierte · fotoggrafierte · fotografeirte · fotograffierte · fotografieret

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fotografiert" and "fotografierte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fotografiert" is a verb and "fotografierte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fotografiert" or "fotografierte"?
"fotografiert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,023 in our German list, against #34,659 for "fotografierte". 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 "fotografiert" and "fotografierte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fotografiert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fotografierte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,410,267 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fotografiert" and "fotografierte" 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 #1,410,267 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