erhaschenvserlöschenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,466
“erhaschen” frequency rank
#33,571
“erlöschen” frequency rank
76037
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhaschen erlöschen
Definition etwas, das sich schnell rührt, einfangen und festhalten als Vulkan keine Aktivität mehr zeigen

Where the eye mixes erhaschen and erlöschen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erhaschen and erlöschen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
erhaschen
9 ch
erlöschen

Why the eye confuses erhaschen with erlöschen

A purely visual mix-up. erhaschen ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaʃn̩]) and erlöschen ([ɛɐ̯ˈlœʃn̩]) 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 76037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhaschen is recorded at frequency rank #42,466, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaʃn̩]. erlöschen is at rank #33,571, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlœʃn̩].

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 76037, this pair ranks #293,280 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erhaschen vs erlöschen

Shared letters: cehnrs. Private to "erhaschen": a. Private to "erlöschen": lö.

"erhaschen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC  ·  "erlöschen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhaschen ← ehraschen · erahschen · erhacshen · erhascchen · erhascehn · erhaschenn · erhaschhen · erhaschne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erhaschen" and "erlöschen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaʃn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈlœʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "erhaschen" or "erlöschen"?
"erlöschen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,571 in our German list, against #42,466 for "erhaschen". 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 "erhaschen" and "erlöschen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhaschen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erlöschen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,280 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhaschen" and "erlöschen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhaschen vs ethischen". 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 #293,280 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