erkennen

/[ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən]/ verb

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#1,054

in German word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

erkennen is aGermanverb. It means: etwas oder jemanden so deutlich wahrnehmen, dass man weiß, was oder wer es ist (im Sinne von etwas wiedererkennen) Pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən]. It ranks #1,054 in German word frequency. Often confused with erkennt and erlernen.

Key facts for erkennen
PropertyValue
Headworderkennen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən]
Letters8
Frequency rank#1,054
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of erkennen in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for erkennen is 8 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən]. Corpus data places it at rank #1,054 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for erkennen, with forms such as "ekrennen", "ereknnen", and "erkenen". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "erkennt", "erlernen", "erkunden", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is erkennen, spelled E-R-K-E-N-N-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas oder jemanden so deutlich wahrnehmen, dass man weiß, was oder wer es ist (im Sinne von etwas wiedererkennen)
  2. 2
    identifizieren; auf Grund bestimmter Anzeichen feststellen, um was oder um wen es sich handelt; mit geschultem, sachverständigen Blick erfassen
  3. 3
    jemanden durchschauen, richtig beurteilen, einschätzen, Klarheit gewinnen über jemanden, bezogen auf praktische, ethische Fragen oder Umgangsformen; etwas voll, in seiner eigentlichen Bedeutung begreifen; oft im Gegensatz zum sinnlichen Wahrnehmen
  4. 4
    etwas umfassend, durch philosophische Systeme, Theorien begreifen; der Mensch erfasst die Realität auf empirische (John Locke), transzendentale (Immanuel Kant) oder sensualistische (Étienne Bonnot de Condillac) Weise; ferner wird erkennen auch als "wiedererkennen" von Erlebtem interpretiert (Moritz Schlick)
  5. 5
    im Rahmen eines Urteils ein benanntes Verbrechen bestätigen
  6. 6
    begatten, Geschlechtsverkehr haben
  7. 7
    gutschreiben

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ekrennen,ereknnen,erkenen,erkenenn,erkennenn,erkennne,erkkennen,erknenen,errkennen,rekennen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for erkennen

Misspelling Variants of "erkennen"

ekrennen8ereknnen8erkenen7erkenenn8erkennenn9erkennne8erkkennen9erknenen8
Misspelling Variants of "erkennen"

Frequency rank: #1,054 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "erkennen"?
"erkennen" is spelled E-R-K-E-N-N-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən].
What does "erkennen" mean?
As a verb, "erkennen" means: etwas oder jemanden so deutlich wahrnehmen, dass man weiß, was oder wer es ist (im Sinne von etwas wiedererkennen)
What words are commonly confused with "erkennen"?
"erkennen" is commonly confused with "erkennt", "erlernen", "erkunden". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "erkennen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "erkennen" is [ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "erkennen" come from?
"erkennen" 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.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter E in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.