erfordern

[ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]

/[ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]/ verb

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

The verdict

“erfordern” has 14 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #10,074. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,074
frequency rank, German
4,632
“E” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas unbedingt verlangen, etwas notwendig machen

Corpus desk

Index DE-erfordern · erfordern · German

erfordern · rank #10,074 · 14 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,074
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,632
  • PHOTO-FINISH erfolgten

Nearest frequency peer: erfolgten (-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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „erfordern“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „erfordern“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

erfordern vs ermorden
78% similar
erfordern vs erörtern
67% similar
erfordern vs erfordert
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for erfordern
PropertyValue
Headworderfordern
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]
Letters9
Frequency rank#10,074
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „erfordern“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).erfordernliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „erfolgten“ (#10,073), „erläutern“ (#10,075), „Erfassung“ (#10,072). Unter 4,632 „E“-Lemmata liegt „erfordern“ bei #10,074. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around erfordern (IPA [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]), averb. Corpus frequency is #10,074 among 4,632 “E” headwords. Dominant gloss: "etwas unbedingt verlangen, etwas notwendig machen".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for erfordern, with forms such as "efrordern", "erffordern", and "erfodrern". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "ermorden", "erörtern", "erfordert", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is erfordern, spelled E-R-F-O-R-D-E-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas unbedingt verlangen, etwas notwendig machen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how erfordern appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Der Betrieb einer Dampfmaschine erforderte eine ständige Verfügbarkeit günstiger Brennstoffe, wie Holz oder Kohle.
  2. Das Autofahren erfordert Konzentration und Reaktionsvermögen.

Synonyms

benötigenbrauchen

This word in other languages

require(English)necesitar(Español)nécessiter(Français)necessitar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efrordern
  • erffordern
  • erfodrern
  • erforddern
  • erfordenr
  • erfordernn
  • erforderrn
  • erfordren
  • erforedrn
  • erforrdern
  • erfrodern
  • erofrdern
  • errfordern
  • refordern

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of erfordern - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

efrordern2erffordern1erfodrern2erforddern1erfordenr2erfordernn1erforderrn1erfordren2
Edit distance from "erfordern"

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 "erfordern"?
"erfordern" is spelled E-R-F-O-R-D-E-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn].
What does "erfordern" mean?
As a verb, "erfordern" means: etwas unbedingt verlangen, etwas notwendig machen
What words are commonly confused with "erfordern"?
"erfordern" is commonly confused with "ermorden", "erörtern", "erfordert". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "erfordern"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "erfordern" is [ɛɐ̯ˈfɔʁdɐn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "erfordern" come from?
"erfordern" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "erfordern", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

erfolgten#10,073erläutern#10,075Erfassung#10,072Durchgang#10,068

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

Expedition14 variantsFranziska14 variantsbeliebigen14 variantsBekenntnis14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list