imitieren
[imiˈtiːʁən]
The verdict
“imitieren” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #28,255 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #28,255
- frequency rank, German
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - etwas nach dem Muster, Vorbild von etwas Anderem tun
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 | imitieren |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [imiˈtiːʁən] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #28,255 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “imitieren” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for imitieren is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [imiˈtiːʁən]. Corpus data places it at rank #28,255 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "etwas nach dem Muster, Vorbild von etwas Anderem tun".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for imitieren, with forms such as "iimtieren", "imiiteren", and "imiteiren". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "imitiert", "irritieren", "initiieren", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is imitieren, spelled I-M-I-T-I-E-R-E-N.
Definition
- 1etwas nach dem Muster, Vorbild von etwas Anderem tun
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iimtieren,imiiteren,imiteiren,imitieern,imitierenn,imitierne,imitierren,imitireen,imittieren,immitieren,imtiieren,miitieren
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of imitieren - 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.
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 "imitieren"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “imitieren”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is I-M-I-T-I-E-R-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [imiˈtiːʁən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “imitiert” - see the side-by-side comparison. imitieren vs imitiert
- 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.