erhöhevserholenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,534
“erhöhe” frequency rank
#10,466
“erholen” frequency rank
41000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhöhe erholen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhöhen sich entspannen

Where the eye mixes erhöhe and erholen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. erhöhe runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against erholen's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
erhöhe
7 ch
erholen

Why the eye confuses erhöhe with erholen

A purely visual mix-up. erhöhe ([ɛɐ̯ˈhøːə]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41000, 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]. 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 41000, this pair ranks #1,492,167 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhöhe vs erholen

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "erhöhe": ö. Private to "erholen": lno.

"erhöhe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "erholen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erholen ← ehrolen · erhholen · erhloen · erhoeln · erholenn · erhollen · erholne · erohlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhöhe" for "erholen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhøːə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erhöhe" or "erholen" show up more?
"erholen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,466 in our German list, against #30,534 for "erhöhe". 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 "erhöhe" 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 #1,492,167 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhöhe" and "erholen" 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 #1,492,167 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