Free German text difficulty checker
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Paste a German passage to see how common its words are and explore unfamiliar vocabulary with English meanings. Free, no account needed.
Im Oktober 1943 kam der Mann, der versprochen hatte zurückzukehren, nicht zurück. Die Stadt war voller Soldaten, und die Leute gingen nicht mehr aus dem Haus. Es herrschte eine seltsame Stille, als warteten alle auf etwas, das nie eintreffen würde.
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Roughly how many German words do you know?
Choose an approximate vocabulary size to highlight words you may not know yet. This is a frequency-based estimate, not a test of each word you know. Your choice is not saved, and you can change it any time.
Words ranked by frequency
Rarest first, with each word’s rank on the German frequency list. Choose a vocabulary size above to see words you may not know yet.
- herrschteprevailed11,861
- wartetenwaited8,310
- eintreffento arrive7,243
- zurückzukehrento return5,722
- OktoberOctober4,411
- Stillesilence3,442
- seltsamestrange3,089
- gingenwent1,730
- Soldatensoldiers1,303
- vollerfull of931
Apera does this for every page of a book or episode: photograph or paste it, practise the words you’re missing, then read or watch the original. How it works
Clues from English
Some words resemble English, some look familiar but mean something different, and others offer fewer clues.
Similar words, different meanings
They look like an English word and mean something else.
Words you may recognise from English
These resemble English words with related meanings. Check the meanings below to see whether your guess fits the passage.
Oktober October·Soldaten soldiers·Haus house·Mann man·alle all·und and
Rare words with fewer English clues
These uncommon words may be harder to guess from English alone.
- herrschte prevailed
- warteten waited
- eintreffen to arrive
- zurückzukehren to return
- Stille silence
- seltsame strange
- gingen went
What the German sample shows
In the sample, nicht mehr means “no longer”, while Stille means “silence”. Knowing the words still leaves the sentence structure to follow, especially in als warteten alle auf etwas (“as if everyone were waiting for something”).
Explore more German vocabulary
Browse the most common German words to explore everyday vocabulary, or find reading ideas in our German book catalogue. Paste a passage from a text you have to check its vocabulary here.
Fewer unfamiliar words in the German you read and watch
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The estimate uses the frequency of German word forms to find the vocabulary size needed to cover nine in ten words matched to our list. Words outside the list are reported separately and excluded from that estimate.
This is a vocabulary check, not a grammar checker or a CEFR assessment. It does not measure sentence complexity or guarantee that you will understand the passage.
To read this figure against your own vocabulary, take the German vocabulary quiz — about two minutes, 15 words, no account.