erleidenvserweisenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,345
“erleiden” frequency rank
#10,272
“erweisen” frequency rank
25617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erleiden erweisen
Definition etwas körperlich oder seelisch Unangenehmes erleben; eine unangenehme Erfahrung machen einen Nachweis erbringen

Where the eye mixes erleiden and erweisen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erleiden and erweisen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
erleiden
8 ch
erweisen

Look-alike desk: erleiden vs erweisen

A purely visual mix-up. erleiden ([ɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯dn̩]) and erweisen ([ɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erleiden is recorded at frequency rank #15,345, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯dn̩]. erweisen is at rank #10,272, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩].

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 25617, this pair ranks #1,830,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erleiden vs erweisen

Shared letters: einr. Private to "erleiden": dl. Private to "erweisen": sw.

"erleiden" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "erweisen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erleidenelreiden · ereliden · erledien · erleidden · erleidenn · erleidne · erleiedn · erlieden
  • erweisenerewisen · errweisen · erweiesn · erweisenn · erweisne · erweissen · erwesien · erwweisen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erleiden" and "erweisen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯dn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erleiden" vs "erweisen" - which ranks higher?
"erweisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,272 in our German list, against #15,345 for "erleiden". 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 "erleiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erweisen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,830,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erleiden" and "erweisen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erwehren vs erweisen". 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 #1,830,574 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