erwachsen

[ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩]

/[ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩]/ adj

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

The verdict

“erwachsen” has 14 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #5,704. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,704
frequency rank, German
4,632
“E” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - aus dem Kindesalter heraus, über das Jugendalter hinausgewachsen

Corpus desk

Index DE-erwachsen · erwachsen · German

erwachsen · rank #5,704 · 14 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,704
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,632
  • PHOTO-FINISH Errichtung

Nearest frequency peer: Errichtung (-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 „erwachsen“

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

corpus weight

What this shows „erwachsen“ 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).

erwachsen vs erwähnen
67% similar
erwachsen vs erwachte
78% similar
erwachsen vs erwächst
67% similar

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

Key facts for erwachsen
PropertyValue
Headworderwachsen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩]
Letters9
Frequency rank#5,704
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „erwachsen“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).erwachsenliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Errichtung“ (#5,703), „Ethik“ (#5,705), „erfuhr“ (#5,702). Unter 4,632 „E“-Lemmata liegt „erwachsen“ bei #5,704. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around erwachsen (IPA [ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,704 among 4,632 “E” headwords. Dominant gloss: "aus dem Kindesalter heraus, über das Jugendalter hinausgewachsen".

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for erwachsen, with forms such as "erawchsen", "errwachsen", and "erwacchsen". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "erwähnen", "erwachte", "erwächst", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is erwachsen, spelled E-R-W-A-C-H-S-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    aus dem Kindesalter heraus, über das Jugendalter hinausgewachsen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ich wollte eigentlich nie erwachsen sein.
  2. Jugendliche sind daran interessiert, erwachsen zu werden.

Antonyms

heranwachsendjugendlichjuvenilkindlich

This word in other languages

adult(English)adulto(Español)adulte(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erawchsen
  • errwachsen
  • erwacchsen
  • erwachesn
  • erwachhsen
  • erwachsenn
  • erwachsne
  • erwachssen
  • erwacshen
  • erwahcsen
  • erwcahsen
  • erwwachsen
  • ewrachsen
  • rewachsen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of erwachsen - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

erawchsen2errwachsen1erwacchsen1erwachesn2erwachhsen1erwachsenn1erwachsne2erwachssen1
Edit distance from "erwachsen"

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 "erwachsen"?
"erwachsen" is spelled E-R-W-A-C-H-S-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩].
What does "erwachsen" mean?
As an adjective, "erwachsen" means: aus dem Kindesalter heraus, über das Jugendalter hinausgewachsen
What words are commonly confused with "erwachsen"?
"erwachsen" is commonly confused with "erwähnen", "erwachte", "erwächst". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "erwachsen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "erwachsen" is [ɛɐ̯ˈvaksn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "erwachsen" come from?
"erwachsen" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "erwachsen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

empfinden#5,700gelegenen#5,712Datenbank#5,694Charlotte#5,691

Similar misspelling depth

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

Errichtung14 variantsGutschein14 variantskompletten14 variantsletzteres14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list