überredenvsübertretenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,478
“überreden” frequency rank
#39,174
“übertreten” frequency rank
53652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature überreden übertreten
Definition jemanden durch Zureden dazu bringen, etwas zu tun, was ursprünglich nicht in seiner oder ihrer Absicht lag mit dem Fuß jenseits einer Linie auftreten

Where the eye mixes überreden and übertreten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. überreden runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCVC) against übertreten's 10 (VCVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
überreden
10 ch
übertreten

Look-alike desk: überreden vs übertreten

A purely visual mix-up. überreden ([yːbɐˈʁeːdn̩]) and übertreten ([ˈyːbɐˌtʁeːtn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

überreden is recorded at frequency rank #14,478, classified as averb, pronounced [yːbɐˈʁeːdn̩]. übertreten is at rank #39,174, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈyːbɐˌtʁeːtn̩].

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 53652, this pair ranks #1,049,689 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of überreden vs übertreten

Shared letters: benrü. Private to "überreden": d. Private to "übertreten": t.

"überreden" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCVC  ·  "übertreten" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "überreden" and "übertreten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([yːbɐˈʁeːdn̩] versus [ˈyːbɐˌtʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "überreden" or "übertreten" show up more?
"überreden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,478 in our German list, against #39,174 for "übertreten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "überreden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "übertreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,049,689 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "überreden" and "übertreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Überresten vs übertreten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,049,689 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