verschlüsseltevsverschlüsseltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,363
“verschlüsselte” frequency rank
#45,663
“verschlüsselten” frequency rank
76026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschlüsselte verschlüsselten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschlüsselt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verschlüsselt

Where the eye mixes verschlüsselte and verschlüsselten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 14 letters in sequence.

14 ch
verschlüsselte
15 ch
verschlüsselten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. verschlüsselte ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tə]) and verschlüsselten ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tn̩]) 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) - “verschlüsselte” sits inside “verschlüsselten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verschlüsselte is recorded at frequency rank #30,363, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tə]. verschlüsselten is at rank #45,663, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tn̩].

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 76026, this pair ranks #293,570 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verschlüsselte vs verschlüsselten

Shared letters: cehlrstvü. Private to "verschlüsselte": -. Private to "verschlüsselten": n.

"verschlüsselte" · 14 letters · shape CVCCCCCVCCVCCV  ·  "verschlüsselten" · 15 letters · shape CVCCCCCVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verschlüsselte" and "verschlüsselten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʃlʏsl̩tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verschlüsselte" or "verschlüsselten"?
"verschlüsselte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,363 in our German list, against #45,663 for "verschlüsselten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list