Which to use
“under” is an adverb and “unter” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,769
- “under” frequency rank
- #87
- “unter” frequency rank
- 11856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | under | unter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | darunter, hinunter, unten | an einem tieferen Ort als |
Where the eye mixes under and unter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses under with unter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: under is [ˈʌndə] while unter is [ˈʊntɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “under” becomes t in “unter”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
under is recorded at frequency rank #11,769, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈʌndə]. unter is at rank #87, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈʊntɐ].
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 11856, this pair ranks #1,967,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of under vs unter
Shared letters: enru. Private to "under": d. Private to "unter": t.
"under" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "unter" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "under" for "unter" ever safe?
Which is more common, "under" or "unter"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "under" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "unter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,967,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "under" and "unter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "under vs Unzen". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,967,535 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.