Which to use
“übertreiben” is a verb and “übertrieben” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,296
- “übertreiben” frequency rank
- #6,385
- “übertrieben” frequency rank
- 19681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | übertreiben | übertrieben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einen Sachverhalt in einer Weise darstellen, dass er mehr einer Eigenschaft besitzt als in Wirklichkeit | viel mehr als nötig; zu viel |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set übertreiben and übertrieben apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
übertreiben and übertrieben form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (ei ↔ ie) - a transposition the eye reads straight past - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
übertreiben is recorded at frequency rank #13,296, classified as averb, pronounced [yːbɐˈtʁaɪ̯bn̩]. übertrieben is at rank #6,385, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌyːbɐˈtʁiːbn̩].
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 19681, this pair ranks #1,905,760 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "übertreiben" and "übertrieben" be used interchangeably?
Remembering übertreiben vs übertrieben
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “übertreiben”; for an adjective, it's “übertrieben”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “übertreiben” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable