ergehenvserregenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,277
“ergehen” frequency rank
#17,875
“erregen” frequency rank
35152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ergehen erregen
Definition offiziell ausgestellt/festgestellt/zugestellt werden jemanden oder sich in Unruhe oder Ärger versetzen; jemanden aktivieren; jemanden (sexuell) stimulieren

Where the eye mixes ergehen and erregen

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

Visual trap between ergehen and erregen

A purely visual mix-up. ergehen ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]) and erregen ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩]) 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 35152, 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]. erregen is at rank #17,875, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩].

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 35152, this pair ranks #1,646,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ergehen vs erregen

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "ergehen": h. Private to "erregen": -.

"ergehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erregen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ergehen ← egrehen · ereghen · ergeehn · ergehenn · ergehhen · ergehne · erggehen · ergheen
  • erregen ← eregen · erergen · erreegn · erregenn · erreggen · erregne · errgeen · reregen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ergehen" and "erregen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ergehen" or "erregen"?
"ergehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,277 in our German list, against #17,875 for "erregen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ergehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erregen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,646,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ergehen" and "erregen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erregen vs erregten". 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 #1,646,824 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