untersuchtvsuntersuchteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,000
“untersucht” frequency rank
#13,258
“untersuchte” frequency rank
16258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature untersucht untersuchte
Definition analysiert oder erforscht worden; unter die Lupe genommen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs untersucht

Where the eye mixes untersucht and untersuchte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. untersucht runs 10 letters (VCCVCCVCCC) against untersuchte's 11 (VCCVCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
untersucht
11 ch
untersuchte

Why the eye confuses untersucht with untersuchte

A purely visual mix-up. untersucht ([ʊntɐˈzuːxt]) and untersuchte ([ˌʊntɐˈzuːxtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “untersucht” sits inside “untersuchte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

untersucht is recorded at frequency rank #3,000, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʊntɐˈzuːxt]. untersuchte is at rank #13,258, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌʊntɐˈzuːxtə].

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 16258, this pair ranks #1,937,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of untersucht vs untersuchte

Shared letters: cehnrstu. Private to "untersucht": -. Private to "untersuchte": -.

"untersucht" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCC  ·  "untersuchte" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • untersucht ← nutersucht · unetrsucht · unntersucht · unterrsucht · unterscuht · unterssucht · untersuccht · untersuchht
  • untersuchte ← nutersuchte · unetrsuchte · unntersuchte · unterrsuchte · unterscuhte · unterssuchte · untersucchte · untersuchet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "untersucht" and "untersuchte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʊntɐˈzuːxt] versus [ˌʊntɐˈzuːxtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "untersucht" or "untersuchte" show up more?
"untersucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,000 in our German list, against #13,258 for "untersuchte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "untersucht" and "untersuchte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "untersucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "untersuchte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,937,318 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "untersucht" and "untersuchte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unterrichte vs untersuchte". 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 #1,937,318 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