erhöhtvsertöntWhich spelling fits?

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

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 eye mixes erhöht and ertönt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. erhöht and ertönt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
erhöht
6 ch
ertönt

Look-alike desk: erhöht vs ertönt

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

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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhöht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ertönt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,830,039 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhöht" and "ertönt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ertönt vs ertönte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,830,039 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