ergebevserhebenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,110
“ergebe” frequency rank
#5,077
“erheben” frequency rank
34187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergebe erheben
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ergeben jemanden oder etwas (physisch oder gesellschaftlich) in eine höhere Position bringen

Where the eye mixes ergebe and erheben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ergebe runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against erheben's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ergebe
7 ch
erheben

Visual trap between ergebe and erheben

A purely visual mix-up. ergebe ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbə]) and erheben ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩]) 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 34187, 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]. erheben is at rank #5,077, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩].

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 34187, this pair ranks #1,669,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ergebe vs erheben

Shared letters: ber. Private to "ergebe": g. Private to "erheben": hn.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ergebe ← egrebe · eregbe · ergbee · ergebbe · ergeeb · erggebe · errgebe · regebe
  • erheben ← ehreben · erehben · erhbeen · erhebben · erhebenn · erhebne · erheebn · erhheben

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ergebe" and "erheben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ergebe" or "erheben"?
"erheben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,077 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ergebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erheben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,669,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergebe" and "erheben" 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 #1,669,117 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