ergebevsergehenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,110
“ergebe” frequency rank
#17,277
“ergehen” frequency rank
46387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergebe ergehen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ergeben offiziell ausgestellt/festgestellt/zugestellt werden

Where the eye mixes ergebe and ergehen

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

6 ch
ergebe
7 ch
ergehen

Look-alike desk: ergebe vs ergehen

A purely visual mix-up. ergebe ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbə]) and ergehen ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ergebe is recorded at frequency rank #29,110, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbə]. ergehen is at rank #17,277, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən].

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 46387, this pair ranks #1,320,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ergebe vs ergehen

Shared letters: egr. Private to "ergebe": b. Private to "ergehen": hn.

"ergebe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "ergehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ergebeegrebe · eregbe · ergbee · ergebbe · ergeeb · erggebe · errgebe · regebe
  • ergehenegrehen · ereghen · ergeehn · ergehenn · ergehhen · ergehne · erggehen · ergheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ergebe" and "ergehen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ergebe" or "ergehen" show up more?
"ergehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,277 in our German list, against #29,110 for "ergebe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ergebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ergehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,320,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergebe" and "ergehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ergebe vs erhebe". 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 #1,320,816 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