überreichenvsüberreichteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#21,862
“überreichen” frequency rank
#22,235
“überreichte” frequency rank
44097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature überreichen überreichte
Definition sichtbar oder offiziell geben Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs überreicht

Where the eye mixes überreichen and überreichte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. überreichen (VCVCCVVCCVC) and überreichte (VCVCCVVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
überreichen
11 ch
überreichte

Look-alike desk: überreichen vs überreichte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: überreichen is [ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çn̩] while überreichte is [ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

überreichen is recorded at frequency rank #21,862, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʁaɪ̯çn̩]. 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 44097, this pair ranks #1,397,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of überreichen vs überreichte

Shared letters: bcehirü. Private to "überreichen": n. Private to "überreichte": t.

"überreichen" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVVCCVC  ·  "überreichte" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "überreichen" and "überreichte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "überreichen" is a verb and "überreichte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "überreichen" vs "überreichte" - which ranks higher?
"überreichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,862 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "überreichen" 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 #1,397,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "überreichen" and "überreichte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "überraschte vs überreichte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,397,154 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