unterstehtvsuntersuchtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: untersteht is a verb, untersucht is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“untersteht” is a verb and “untersucht” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,331
“untersteht” frequency rank
#3,000
“untersucht” frequency rank
35331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature untersteht untersucht
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs unterstehen analysiert oder erforscht worden; unter die Lupe genommen

Where the eye mixes untersteht and untersucht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. untersteht (VCCVCCCVCC) and untersucht (VCCVCCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
untersteht
10 ch
untersucht

Why the eye confuses untersteht with untersucht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: untersteht is [ˌʊntɐˈʃteːt] while untersucht is [ʊntɐˈzuːxt]. 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 35331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

untersteht is recorded at frequency rank #32,331, classified as averb, pronounced [ˌʊntɐˈʃteːt]. untersucht is at rank #3,000, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʊntɐˈzuːxt].

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 35331, this pair ranks #1,642,545 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of untersteht vs untersucht

Shared letters: ehnrstu. Private to "untersteht": -. Private to "untersucht": c.

"untersteht" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCC  ·  "untersucht" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • untersteht ← nutersteht · unetrsteht · unntersteht · unterrsteht · untersetht · unterssteht · unterstehht · unterstehtt
  • untersucht ← nutersucht · unetrsucht · unntersucht · unterrsucht · unterscuht · unterssucht · untersuccht · untersuchht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "untersteht" for "untersucht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "untersteht" is a verb and "untersucht" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "untersteht" or "untersucht" show up more?
"untersucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,000 in our German list, against #32,331 for "untersteht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "untersteht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "untersucht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,642,545 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "untersteht" and "untersucht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "übersteht vs untersteht". 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 #1,642,545 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