Which to use
“erbauten” is an adjective and “erlauben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,631
- “erbauten” frequency rank
- #3,575
- “erlauben” frequency rank
- 32206
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erbauten | erlauben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erbaut | jemandem die Zustimmung oder die Möglichkeit geben |
Where the eye mixes erbauten and erlauben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erbauten and erlauben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between erbauten and erlauben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erbauten is [ɛɐ̯ˈbaʊ̯tn̩] while erlauben is [ɛɐ̯ˈlaʊ̯bn̩]. 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 32206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erbauten is recorded at frequency rank #28,631, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈbaʊ̯tn̩]. erlauben is at rank #3,575, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlaʊ̯bn̩].
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 32206, this pair ranks #1,712,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erbauten vs erlauben
Shared letters: abenru. Private to "erbauten": t. Private to "erlauben": l.
"erbauten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC · "erlauben" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "erbauten" for "erlauben" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "erbauten" or "erlauben" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "erbauten" and "erlauben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erbauten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erlauben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,712,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erbauten" and "erlauben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erbauten vs erbeuten". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,712,494 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.