importiertvsimportiertenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#16,459
“importiert” frequency rank
#38,195
“importierten” frequency rank
54654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature importiert importierten
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs importieren Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs importiert

Where the eye mixes importiert and importierten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. importiert runs 10 letters (VCCVCCVVCC) against importierten's 12 (VCCVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
importiert
12 ch
importierten

Why the eye confuses importiert with importierten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: importiert is [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯t] while importierten is [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “importiert” sits inside “importierten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

importiert is recorded at frequency rank #16,459, classified as averb, pronounced [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯t]. importierten is at rank #38,195, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɪmpɔʁˈtiːɐ̯tn̩].

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 54654, this pair ranks #1,010,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of importiert vs importierten

Shared letters: eimoprt. Private to "importiert": -. Private to "importierten": n.

"importiert" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC  ·  "importierten" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • importiert ← immportiert · imoprtiert · imporitert · imporrtiert · importeirt · importierrt · importiertt · importietr
  • importierten ← immportierten · imoprtierten · imporiterten · imporrtierten · importeirten · importieretn · importierrten · importiertenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "importiert" for "importierten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "importiert" is a verb and "importierten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "importiert" or "importierten"?
"importiert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,459 in our German list, against #38,195 for "importierten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "importiert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "importierten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,010,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "importiert" and "importierten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "importierte vs importierten". 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 #1,010,372 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