erfrorenvserprobenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#47,355
“erfroren” frequency rank
#34,079
“erproben” frequency rank
81434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erfroren erproben
Definition infolge zu niedriger Temperaturen (ab-)gestorben testen, ob etwas tatsächlich so funktioniert, wie es funktionieren soll

Where the eye mixes erfroren and erproben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erfroren and erproben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erfroren
8 ch
erproben

Visual trap between erfroren and erproben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erfroren is [ɛɐ̯ˈfʁoːʁən] while erproben is [ɛɐ̯ˈpʁoːbn̩]. 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 81434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erfroren is recorded at frequency rank #47,355, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈfʁoːʁən]. erproben is at rank #34,079, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈpʁoːbn̩].

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 81434, this pair ranks #175,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erfroren vs erproben

Shared letters: enor. Private to "erfroren": f. Private to "erproben": bp.

"erfroren" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "erproben" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erfroren ← efrroren · erffroren · erforren · erfroern · erfrorenn · erfrorne · erfrorren · erfrroen
  • erproben ← eprroben · erporben · erpproben · erprboen · erprobben · erprobenn · erprobne · erproebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erfroren" and "erproben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erfroren" is an adjective and "erproben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erfroren" or "erproben" show up more?
"erproben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,079 in our German list, against #47,355 for "erfroren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erfroren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erproben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #175,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erfroren" and "erproben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erfrieren vs erfroren". 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 #175,932 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