erbetenvserlebenTell them apart

Which to use

“erbeten” and “erleben” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,632
“erbeten” frequency rank
#1,878
“erleben” frequency rank
30510
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erbeten erleben
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erbitten eine Erfahrung machen, bei etwas dabei sein

Where the eye mixes erbeten and erleben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
erbeten
7 ch
erleben

Why the eye confuses erbeten with erleben

A purely visual mix-up. erbeten ([ɛɐ̯ˈbeːtn̩]) and erleben ([ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erbeten is recorded at frequency rank #28,632, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈbeːtn̩]. erleben is at rank #1,878, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩].

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 30510, this pair ranks #1,746,433 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erbeten vs erleben

Shared letters: benr. Private to "erbeten": t. Private to "erleben": l.

"erbeten" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erleben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erbetenebreten · erbbeten · erbeetn · erbetenn · erbetne · erbetten · erbteen · erebten
  • erlebenelreben · erelben · erlbeen · erlebben · erlebenn · erlebne · erleebn · erlleben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erbeten" for "erleben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈbeːtn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erbeten" vs "erleben" - which ranks higher?
"erleben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,878 in our German list, against #28,632 for "erbeten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erbeten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erleben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,746,433 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erbeten" and "erleben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erbeten vs erregten". 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 #1,746,433 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