ALTE
[ˈaltə]
The verdict
“ALTE” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #498) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #498
- frequency rank, German
- 6,976
- “A” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Apparent Life Threatening Event = anscheinend lebensbedrohliches Ereignis (Bezeichnung eines akuten Zustandes bei Neugeborenen oder Säuglingen mit Apnoe, Zyanose oder Blässe, verändertem Muskeltonu...
Corpus desk
Index DE-alte · ALTE · German
ALTE · rank #498 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #498
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,976
- PHOTO-FINISH zunächst
Nearest frequency peer: zunächst (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ALTE”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Sache
Sache
99,506 corpus weight
- scheint
scheint
99,505 corpus weight
- zunächst
zunächst
99,504 corpus weight
- ALTE
ALTE
99,503 corpus weight
- Bayern
Bayern
99,502 corpus weight
- bisschen
bisschen
99,501 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ALTE” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ALTE |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Abbreviation |
| IPA | [ˈaltə] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #498 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ALTE” sits in German frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for ALTE is neighbouring look-alikes ("at", "Art", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation pronounced [ˈaltə]. Frequency #498 among 6,976 “A” headwords. Gloss: "Apparent Life Threatening Event = anscheinend lebensbedrohliches Ereignis (Bezeichnung eines akuten Zustandes bei Neugeborenen oder Säuglingen mit Apnoe, Zyanose oder Blässe, verändertem Muskeltonu...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for ALTE, with forms such as "alet", "allte", and "altte". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "at", "Art", "Amt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is ALTE, spelled A-L-T-E.
Definition
- 1Apparent Life Threatening Event = anscheinend lebensbedrohliches Ereignis (Bezeichnung eines akuten Zustandes bei Neugeborenen oder Säuglingen mit Apnoe, Zyanose oder Blässe, verändertem Muskeltonus sowie Bradykardie)
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ALTE appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Nach ALTE ist das Risiko eines SIDS vielfach erhöht
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- alet
- allte
- altte
- atle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ALTE - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ALTE"?
What does "ALTE" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ALTE"?
How do you pronounce "ALTE"?
What language does "ALTE" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ALTE", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.