Which to use
“unterhalte” is a verb and “untersagte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,330
- “unterhalte” frequency rank
- #48,580
- “untersagte” frequency rank
- 80910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unterhalte | untersagte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs unterhalten | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs untersagt |
Where the eye mixes unterhalte and untersagte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. unterhalte and untersagte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between unterhalte and untersagte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unterhalte is [ˌʊntɐˈhaltə] while untersagte is [ˌʊntɐˈzaːktə]. 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 80910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unterhalte is recorded at frequency rank #32,330, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌʊntɐˈhaltə]. untersagte is at rank #48,580, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌʊntɐˈzaːktə].
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 80910, this pair ranks #186,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of unterhalte vs untersagte
Shared letters: aenrtu. Private to "unterhalte": hl. Private to "untersagte": gs.
"unterhalte" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV · "untersagte" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- unterhalte ← nuterhalte · unetrhalte · unnterhalte · untehralte · unterahlte · unterhalet · unterhallte · unterhaltte
- untersagte ← nutersagte · unetrsagte · unntersagte · unterasgte · unterrsagte · untersaget · untersaggte · untersagtte
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "unterhalte" and "untersagte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "unterhalte" or "untersagte"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "unterhalte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "untersagte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "unterhalte" and "untersagte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "untersagen vs untersagte". 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 #186,074 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.