uraltevsuraltenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,416
“uralte” frequency rank
#21,813
“uralten” frequency rank
40229
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature uralte uralten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs uralt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs uralt

Where the eye mixes uralte and uralten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
uralte
7 ch
uralten

Why the eye confuses uralte with uralten

A purely visual mix-up. uralte ([ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltə]) and uralten ([ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltn̩]) 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) - “uralte” sits inside “uralten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uralte is recorded at frequency rank #18,416, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltə]. uralten is at rank #21,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltn̩].

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 40229, this pair ranks #1,514,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of uralte vs uralten

Shared letters: aelrtu. Private to "uralte": -. Private to "uralten": n.

"uralte" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "uralten" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • uralterualte · uarlte · uralet · urallte · uraltte · uratle · urlate · urralte
  • uraltenrualten · uarlten · uraletn · urallten · uraltenn · uraltne · uraltten · uratlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "uralte" for "uralten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltə] versus [ˈuːɐ̯ʔaltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "uralte" or "uralten"?
"uralte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,416 in our German list, against #21,813 for "uralten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "uralte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "uralten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,514,469 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "uralte" and "uralten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ural vs uralte". 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 #1,514,469 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