unerkanntvsunerwähntWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,320
“unerkannt” frequency rank
#31,321
“unerwähnt” frequency rank
62641
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unerkannt unerwähnt
Definition nicht erkannt; unidentifiziert nicht erwähnt, nicht genannt

Where the eye mixes unerkannt and unerwähnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. unerkannt and unerwähnt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
unerkannt
9 ch
unerwähnt

Why the eye confuses unerkannt with unerwähnt

A purely visual mix-up. unerkannt ([ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌkant]) and unerwähnt ([ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌvɛːnt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62641, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unerkannt is recorded at frequency rank #31,320, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌkant]. unerwähnt is at rank #31,321, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌvɛːnt].

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 62641, this pair ranks #705,402 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unerkannt vs unerwähnt

Shared letters: enrtu. Private to "unerkannt": ak. Private to "unerwähnt": hwä.

"unerkannt" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCC  ·  "unerwähnt" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unerkannt ← nuerkannt · uenrkannt · unekrannt · uneraknnt · unerkanntt · unerkant · unerkantn · unerkkannt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "unerkannt" and "unerwähnt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌkant] versus [ˈʊnʔɛɐ̯ˌvɛːnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "unerkannt" vs "unerwähnt" - which ranks higher?
"unerkannt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,320 in our German list, against #31,321 for "unerwähnt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "unerkannt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unerwähnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #705,402 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unerkannt" and "unerwähnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "überrannt vs unerkannt". 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 #705,402 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