Which to use
“Zweifel” is a noun and “zweifelte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,868
- “Zweifel” frequency rank
- #44,394
- “zweifelte” frequency rank
- 46262
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Zweifel | zweifelte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | inneres Schwanken; Unsicherheit in Bezug auf Vertrauen, Taten, Entscheidungen, Glauben oder Behauptungen beziehungsweise Vermutung von Tatsachen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zweifeln |
Where the eye mixes Zweifel and zweifelte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Zweifel runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against zweifelte's 9 (CCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Zweifel and zweifelte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Zweifel is [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩] while zweifelte is [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Zweifel” sits inside “zweifelte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Zweifel is recorded at frequency rank #1,868, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩]. zweifelte is at rank #44,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡svaɪ̯fl̩tə].
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 46262, this pair ranks #1,325,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Zweifel vs zweifelte
Shared letters: efilwz. Private to "Zweifel": -. Private to "zweifelte": t.
"Zweifel" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "zweifelte" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Zweifel" and "zweifelte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Zweifel" or "zweifelte" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Zweifel" and "zweifelte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Zweifel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "zweifelte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,325,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Zweifel" and "zweifelte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zweifelte vs zweifle". 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 #1,325,157 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.