ErhebungvsErregungWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,165
“Erhebung” frequency rank
#20,236
“Erregung” frequency rank
25401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Erhebung Erregung
Definition kleiner Hügel eine Art seelischer Hochspannung

Where the eye mixes Erhebung and Erregung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Erhebung and Erregung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Erhebung
8 ch
Erregung

Visual trap between Erhebung and Erregung

A purely visual mix-up. Erhebung ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbʊŋ]) and Erregung ([ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡʊŋ]) 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 25401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Erhebung is recorded at frequency rank #5,165, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈheːbʊŋ]. Erregung is at rank #20,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡʊŋ].

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 25401, this pair ranks #1,833,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Erhebung vs Erregung

Shared letters: egnru. Private to "Erhebung": bh. Private to "Erregung": -.

"Erhebung" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "Erregung" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Erhebung ← ehrebung · erehbung · erhbeung · erhebbung · erhebnug · erhebugn · erhebungg · erhebunng
  • Erregung ← eregung · erergung · erreggung · erregnug · erregugn · erregungg · erregunng · erreugng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Erhebung" for "Erregung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈheːbʊŋ] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʁeːɡʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Erhebung" or "Erregung" show up more?
"Erhebung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,165 in our German list, against #20,236 for "Erregung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Erhebung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Erregung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,833,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Erhebung" and "Erregung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erregend vs Erregung". 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 #1,833,877 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