erhebenvserholenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,077
“erheben” frequency rank
#10,466
“erholen” frequency rank
15543
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erheben erholen
Definition jemanden oder etwas (physisch oder gesellschaftlich) in eine höhere Position bringen sich entspannen

Where the eye mixes erheben and erholen

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

7 ch
erheben
7 ch
erholen

Why the eye confuses erheben with erholen

A purely visual mix-up. erheben ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩]) and erholen ([ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən]) 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 15543, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erheben is recorded at frequency rank #5,077, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩]. erholen is at rank #10,466, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən].

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 15543, this pair ranks #1,943,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erheben vs erholen

Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "erheben": b. Private to "erholen": lo.

"erheben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "erholen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhebenehreben · erehben · erhbeen · erhebben · erhebenn · erhebne · erheebn · erhheben
  • erholenehrolen · erhholen · erhloen · erhoeln · erholenn · erhollen · erholne · erohlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erheben" for "erholen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erheben" vs "erholen" - which ranks higher?
"erheben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,077 in our German list, against #10,466 for "erholen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erheben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erholen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,943,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erheben" and "erholen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhellen vs erholen". 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 #1,943,031 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