rotten
[ˈʁɔtn̩]
The verdict
“rotten” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #34,340 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #34,340
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - faulen, verfallen
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 | rotten |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈʁɔtn̩] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #34,340 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rotten” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for rotten is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʁɔtn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #34,340 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for rotten, with forms such as "rotetn", "rottenn", and "rottne". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "route", "Rouen", "Router", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
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 rotten, spelled R-O-T-T-E-N.
Definition
- 1faulen, verfallen
- 2eine Rotte bilden
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rotetn,rottenn,rottne,rrotten,rtoten
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rotten - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “rotten”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is R-O-T-T-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈʁɔtn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “route” - see the side-by-side comparison. rotten vs route
- 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.