erhöhevserhöhtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: erhöhe is a verb, erhöht is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“erhöhe” is a verb and “erhöht” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,534
“erhöhe” frequency rank
#2,145
“erhöht” frequency rank
32679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhöhe erhöht
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhöhen über einem bestimmten Niveau/Wert befindlich

Where the eye mixes erhöhe and erhöht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erhöhe (VCCVCV) and erhöht (VCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
erhöhe
6 ch
erhöht

Why the eye confuses erhöhe with erhöht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erhöhe is [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːə] while erhöht is [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “erhöhe” becomes t in “erhöht”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhöhe is recorded at frequency rank #30,534, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːə]. erhöht is at rank #2,145, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːt].

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 32679, this pair ranks #1,702,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erhöhe vs erhöht

Shared letters: ehrö. Private to "erhöhe": -. Private to "erhöht": t.

"erhöhe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "erhöht" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhöhe" for "erhöht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erhöhe" is a verb and "erhöht" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erhöhe" or "erhöht" show up more?
"erhöht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,145 in our German list, against #30,534 for "erhöhe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhöhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erhöht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,702,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhöhe" and "erhöht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhebe vs erhöhe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,702,398 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