überraschtevsüberreichteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,147
“überraschte” frequency rank
#22,235
“überreichte” frequency rank
42382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature überraschte überreichte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs überrascht Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs überreicht

Where the eye mixes überraschte and überreichte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. überraschte (VCVCCVCCCCV) and überreichte (VCVCCVVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
überraschte
11 ch
überreichte

Look-alike desk: überraschte vs überreichte

A purely visual mix-up. überraschte ([yːbɐˈʁaʃtə]) and überreichte ([ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

überraschte is recorded at frequency rank #20,147, classified as anadj, pronounced [yːbɐˈʁaʃtə]. überreichte is at rank #22,235, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çtə].

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 42382, this pair ranks #1,451,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of überraschte vs überreichte

Shared letters: bcehrtü. Private to "überraschte": as. Private to "überreichte": i.

"überraschte" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCCV  ·  "überreichte" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "überraschte" and "überreichte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([yːbɐˈʁaʃtə] versus [ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "überraschte" vs "überreichte" - which ranks higher?
"überraschte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,147 in our German list, against #22,235 for "überreichte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "überraschte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "überreichte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,451,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "überraschte" and "überreichte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "überraschte vs überraschten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,451,118 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