importierenvsimportierteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#22,024
“importieren” frequency rank
#35,848
“importierte” frequency rank
57872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importieren importierte
Definition Waren aus dem Ausland in das eigene Land einführen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs importiert

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set importieren and importierte apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
importieren
11 ch
importierte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: importieren is [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːʁən] while importierte is [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importieren is recorded at frequency rank #22,024, classified as averb, pronounced [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːʁən]. importierte is at rank #35,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯tə].

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 57872, this pair ranks #884,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of importieren vs importierte

Shared letters: eimoprt. Private to "importieren": n. Private to "importierte": -.

"importieren" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCVC  ·  "importierte" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importierenimmportieren · imoprtieren · imporiteren · imporrtieren · importeiren · importieern · importierenn · importierne
  • importierteimmportierte · imoprtierte · imporiterte · imporrtierte · importeirte · importieret · importierrte · importiertte

Frequency comparison

importieren#22,024
importierte#35,848

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "importieren" and "importierte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "importieren" is a verb and "importierte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "importieren" or "importierte"?
"importieren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,024 in our German list, against #35,848 for "importierte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering importieren vs importierte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “importieren”; for an adjective, it's “importierte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “importieren” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list