ersatz
[ɛʁ.zats]
The verdict
“ersatz” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #3,576 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,576
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Surrogat
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 | ersatz |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ɛʁ.zats] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #3,576 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ersatz” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for ersatz is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɛʁ.zats]. Corpus data places it at rank #3,576 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Surrogat".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for ersatz, with forms such as "erastz", "errsatz", and "ersattz". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "erst", "erste", "ersetzt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is ersatz, spelled E-R-S-A-T-Z.
Definition
- 1Surrogat
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erastz,errsatz,ersattz,ersatzz,ersazt,erssatz,erstaz,esratz,resatz
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ersatz - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ersatz"?
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Using “ersatz”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is E-R-S-A-T-Z - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ɛʁ.zats] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “erst” - see the side-by-side comparison. ersatz vs erst
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.