alternate

[…]

/[…]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“alternate” is uncommon German (frequency #60,328 among 113,935 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,328
frequency rank, German
113,935
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - etwas wechselt sich kontinuierlich

Key facts for alternate
PropertyValue
Headwordalternate
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[…]
Letters9
Frequency rank#60,328
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “alternate” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). alternate lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

alternate is uncommon German at frequency #60,328 among 113,935 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

alternate doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is alternate, spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas wechselt sich kontinuierlich
  2. 2
    etwas oder jemand wechselt sich ständig mit etwas oder jemand

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "alternate"?
"alternate" is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "alternate" mean?
As a verb, "alternate" means: etwas wechselt sich kontinuierlich
How do you pronounce "alternate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alternate" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "alternate" come from?
"alternate" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “alternate”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as […] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list