erhöhevserholteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#30,534
“erhöhe” frequency rank
#33,570
“erholte” frequency rank
64104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhöhe erholte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhöhen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs erholt

Where the eye mixes erhöhe and erholte

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

6 ch
erhöhe
7 ch
erholte

Look-alike desk: erhöhe vs erholte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erhöhe is [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːə] while erholte is [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64104, 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]. erholte is at rank #33,570, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːltə].

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 64104, this pair ranks #653,317 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of erhöhe vs erholte

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "erhöhe": ö. Private to "erholte": lot.

"erhöhe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "erholte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erholte ← ehrolte · erhholte · erhlote · erholet · erhollte · erholtte · erhotle · erohlte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhöhe" for "erholte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erhöhe" is a verb and "erholte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "erhöhe" or "erholte" show up more?
"erhöhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,534 in our German list, against #33,570 for "erholte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "erhöhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erholte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #653,317 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhöhe" and "erholte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erholte vs ertönte". 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 #653,317 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