erhöht vs ertönt, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,145
“erhöht” frequency rank: #23,507
“ertönt” frequency rank: 25652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	erhöht	ertönt
Definition	über einem bestimmten Niveau/Wert befindlich	2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ertönen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set erhöht and ertönt apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

erhöht

6 ch

ertönt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erhöht is [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːt] while ertönt is [ɛɐ̯ˈtøːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhöht is recorded at frequency rank #2,145, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhøːt]. ertönt is at rank #23,507, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈtøːnt].

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 25652, this pair ranks #1,830,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erhöht vs ertönt

Shared letters: ertö. Private to "erhöht": h. Private to "ertönt": n.

"erhöht" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "ertönt" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Frequency comparison

erhöht#2,145

ertönt#23,507

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erhöht" and "ertönt" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "erhöht" is an adjective and "ertönt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "erhöht" or "ertönt"?

"erhöht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,145 in our German list, against #23,507 for "ertönt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering erhöht vs ertönt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “erhöht”; for a verb, it's “ertönt”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “erhöht” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable