erblichvserblicktWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: erblich is a adjective, erblickt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erblich” is an adjective and “erblickt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,142
“erblich” frequency rank
#28,174
“erblickt” frequency rank
69316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erblich erblickt
Definition genetisch von Eltern auf Nachkommen übertragbar 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erblicken

Where the eye mixes erblich and erblickt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erblich runs 7 letters (VCCCVCC) against erblickt's 8 (VCCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erblich
8 ch
erblickt

Visual trap between erblich and erblickt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erblich is [ˈɛʁplɪç] while erblickt is [ɛɐ̯ˈblɪkt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erblich is recorded at frequency rank #41,142, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɛʁplɪç]. erblickt is at rank #28,174, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈblɪkt].

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 69316, this pair ranks #480,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erblich vs erblickt

Shared letters: bceilr. Private to "erblich": h. Private to "erblickt": kt.

"erblich" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC  ·  "erblickt" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erblich ← ebrlich · erbblich · erbilch · erblcih · erblicch · erblichh · erblihc · erbllich
  • erblickt ← ebrlickt · erbblickt · erbilckt · erblcikt · erblicckt · erblickkt · erblicktt · erblictk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erblich" and "erblickt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erblich" is an adjective and "erblickt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "erblich" vs "erblickt" - which ranks higher?
"erblickt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,174 in our German list, against #41,142 for "erblich". 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 "erblich" and "erblickt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erblich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erblickt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #480,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erblich" and "erblickt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Erbach vs erblich". 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 #480,286 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