ErbevserhebeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Erbe is a noun, erhebe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Erbe” is a noun and “erhebe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,874
“Erbe” frequency rank
#39,318
“erhebe” frequency rank
44192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Erbe erhebe
Definition Besitz eines Verstorbenen, der an eine lebende Person übertragen werden kann 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erheben

Where the eye mixes Erbe and erhebe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Erbe
6 ch
erhebe

Look-alike desk: Erbe vs erhebe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Erbe is [ˈɛʁbə] while erhebe is [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Erbe is recorded at frequency rank #4,874, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛʁbə]. erhebe is at rank #39,318, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbə].

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 44192, this pair ranks #1,394,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Erbe vs erhebe

Shared letters: ber. Private to "Erbe": -. Private to "erhebe": h.

"Erbe" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "erhebe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Erbeebre · erbbe · ereb · errbe · rebe
  • erhebeehrebe · erehbe · erhbee · erhebbe · erheeb · erhhebe · errhebe · rehebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Erbe" for "erhebe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Erbe" is a noun and "erhebe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Erbe" or "erhebe" show up more?
"Erbe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,874 in our German list, against #39,318 for "erhebe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Erbe" and "erhebe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Erbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erhebe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,394,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Erbe" and "erhebe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhebe vs erhöhe". 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 #1,394,033 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list