RittervsRitternWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,396
“Ritter” frequency rank
#35,417
“Rittern” frequency rank
38813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ritter Rittern
Definition ein Adliger, der einem Lehnsherrn zu Kriegsdiensten und Treue verpflichtet ist und der meist als schwerer Kavallerist mit Lanze eingesetzt wurde Dativ Plural des Substantivs Ritter

Where the eye mixes Ritter and Rittern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Ritter
7 ch
Rittern

Look-alike desk: Ritter vs Rittern

A purely visual mix-up. Ritter ([ˈʁɪtɐ]) and Rittern ([ˈʁɪtɐn]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “Ritter” sits inside “Rittern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ritter is recorded at frequency rank #3,396, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɪtɐ]. Rittern is at rank #35,417, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɪtɐn].

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 38813, this pair ranks #1,553,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ritter vs Rittern

Shared letters: eirt. Private to "Ritter": -. Private to "Rittern": n.

"Ritter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Rittern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ritterirtter · riter · ritetr · ritterr · rittre · rritter · rtiter
  • Ritternirttern · ritern · ritetrn · rittenr · ritternn · ritterrn · rittren · rrittern

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ritter" and "Rittern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɪtɐ] versus [ˈʁɪtɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ritter" or "Rittern" show up more?
"Ritter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,396 in our German list, against #35,417 for "Rittern". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ritter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rittern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,553,943 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ritter" and "Rittern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rinteln vs Rittern". 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 #1,553,943 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