erhebevserlebenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,318
“erhebe” frequency rank
#1,878
“erleben” frequency rank
41196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhebe erleben
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erheben eine Erfahrung machen, bei etwas dabei sein

Where the eye mixes erhebe and erleben

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

6 ch
erhebe
7 ch
erleben

Visual trap between erhebe and erleben

A purely visual mix-up. erhebe ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbə]) and erleben ([ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩]) 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 41196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhebe is recorded at frequency rank #39,318, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbə]. erleben is at rank #1,878, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩].

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 41196, this pair ranks #1,486,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhebe vs erleben

Shared letters: ber. Private to "erhebe": h. Private to "erleben": ln.

"erhebe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "erleben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhebeehrebe · erehbe · erhbee · erhebbe · erheeb · erhhebe · errhebe · rehebe
  • erlebenelreben · erelben · erlbeen · erlebben · erlebenn · erlebne · erleebn · erlleben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhebe" for "erleben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈleːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erhebe" or "erleben" show up more?
"erleben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,878 in our German list, against #39,318 for "erhebe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erleben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,486,553 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhebe" and "erleben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhebe vs erhöhe". 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 #1,486,553 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