Which to use
“erhaben” is an adjective and “erlauben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,276
- “erhaben” frequency rank
- #3,575
- “erlauben” frequency rank
- 30851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erhaben | erlauben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (als Mensch) darüberstehend, unangreifbar; andere weit übertreffend | jemandem die Zustimmung oder die Möglichkeit geben |
Where the eye mixes erhaben and erlauben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erhaben runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against erlauben's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: erhaben vs erlauben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erhaben is [ˌɛɐ̯ˈhaːbn̩] while erlauben is [ɛɐ̯ˈlaʊ̯bn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erhaben is recorded at frequency rank #27,276, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˌɛɐ̯ˈhaːbn̩]. erlauben is at rank #3,575, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlaʊ̯bn̩].
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 30851, this pair ranks #1,739,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erhaben vs erlauben
Shared letters: abenr. Private to "erhaben": h. Private to "erlauben": lu.
"erhaben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "erlauben" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "erhaben" and "erlauben" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "erhaben" vs "erlauben" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "erhaben" and "erlauben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erhaben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erlauben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,739,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erhaben" and "erlauben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhaben vs erhabenen". 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 #1,739,806 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.