überschreitenvsüberschreitetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,492
“überschreiten” frequency rank
#17,485
“überschreitet” frequency rank
26977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature überschreiten überschreitet
Definition über etwas hinweggehen, etwas überqueren, etwas passieren 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs überschreiten

Where the eye mixes überschreiten and überschreitet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. überschreiten and überschreitet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

13 ch
überschreiten
13 ch
überschreitet

Look-alike desk: überschreiten vs überschreitet

A purely visual mix-up. überschreiten ([ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tn̩]) and überschreitet ([ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tət]) 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 a single letter - n in “überschreiten” becomes t in “überschreitet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

überschreiten is recorded at frequency rank #9,492, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tn̩]. überschreitet is at rank #17,485, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tət].

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 26977, this pair ranks #1,809,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of überschreiten vs überschreitet

Shared letters: bcehirstü. Private to "überschreiten": n. Private to "überschreitet": -.

"überschreiten" · 13 letters · shape VCVCCCCCVVCVC  ·  "überschreitet" · 13 letters · shape VCVCCCCCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "überschreiten" and "überschreitet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tn̩] versus [ˌyːbɐˈʃʁaɪ̯tət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "überschreiten" or "überschreitet"?
"überschreiten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,492 in our German list, against #17,485 for "überschreitet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "überschreiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "überschreitet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,809,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "überschreiten" and "überschreitet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "überschreiben vs überschreitet". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,809,287 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