reagiertvsreagierteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#3,067
“reagiert” frequency rank
#11,314
“reagierte” frequency rank
14381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reagiert reagierte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs reagieren Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs reagiert

Where the eye mixes reagiert and reagierte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
reagiert
9 ch
reagierte

Why the eye confuses reagiert with reagierte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reagiert is [ʁeaˈɡiːɐ̯t] while reagierte is [ʁeaˈɡiːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “reagiert” sits inside “reagierte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reagiert is recorded at frequency rank #3,067, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁeaˈɡiːɐ̯t]. reagierte is at rank #11,314, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʁeaˈɡiːɐ̯tə].

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 14381, this pair ranks #1,951,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reagiert vs reagierte

Shared letters: aegirt. Private to "reagiert": -. Private to "reagierte": -.

"reagiert" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCC  ·  "reagierte" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reagierteragiert · raegiert · reageirt · reaggiert · reagierrt · reagiertt · reagietr · reagiret
  • reagierteeragierte · raegierte · reageirte · reaggierte · reagieret · reagierrte · reagiertte · reagietre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reagiert" for "reagierte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reagiert" is a verb and "reagierte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "reagiert" or "reagierte" show up more?
"reagiert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,067 in our German list, against #11,314 for "reagierte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reagiert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reagierte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,951,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reagiert" and "reagierte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reagierst vs reagierte". 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 #1,951,597 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