Which to use
“empört” is an adjective and “erhört” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,889
- “empört” frequency rank
- #35,748
- “erhört” frequency rank
- 45637
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empört | erhört |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sehr verärgert über etwas sein | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhören |
Where the eye mixes empört and erhört
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. empört and erhört follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: empört vs erhört
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empört is [ɛmˈpøːɐ̯t] while erhört is [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empört is recorded at frequency rank #9,889, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛmˈpøːɐ̯t]. erhört is at rank #35,748, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 45637, this pair ranks #1,346,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empört vs erhört
Shared letters: ertö. Private to "empört": mp. Private to "erhört": h.
"empört" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "erhört" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empört" and "erhört" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "empört" vs "erhört" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "empört" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erhört" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,346,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empört" and "erhört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erbost vs erhört". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,346,244 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.