ergehenvserhöhenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,277
“ergehen” frequency rank
#2,954
“erhöhen” frequency rank
20231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergehen erhöhen
Definition offiziell ausgestellt/festgestellt/zugestellt werden etwas anheben, steigen lassen, größer machen

Where the eye mixes ergehen and erhöhen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ergehen and erhöhen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
ergehen
7 ch
erhöhen

Look-alike desk: ergehen vs erhöhen

A purely visual mix-up. ergehen ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]) and erhöhen ([ɛɐ̯ˈhøːən]) 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 20231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ergehen is recorded at frequency rank #17,277, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]. erhöhen is at rank #2,954, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːən].

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 20231, this pair ranks #1,899,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ergehen vs erhöhen

Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "ergehen": g. Private to "erhöhen": ö.

"ergehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erhöhen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ergehen ← egrehen · ereghen · ergeehn · ergehenn · ergehhen · ergehne · erggehen · ergheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ergehen" and "erhöhen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ergehen" vs "erhöhen" - which ranks higher?
"erhöhen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,954 in our German list, against #17,277 for "ergehen". 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 "ergehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erhöhen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,899,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergehen" and "erhöhen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ergehen vs erwehren". 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 #1,899,912 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