erliegenvserliegtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,235
“erliegen” frequency rank
#48,118
“erliegt” frequency rank
68353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erliegen erliegt
Definition an etwas sterben 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erliegen

Where the eye mixes erliegen and erliegt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
erliegen
7 ch
erliegt

Look-alike desk: erliegen vs erliegt

A purely visual mix-up. erliegen ([ɛɐ̯ˈliːɡn̩]) and erliegt ([ɛɐ̯ˈliːkt]) 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 68353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erliegen is recorded at frequency rank #20,235, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈliːɡn̩]. erliegt is at rank #48,118, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈliːkt].

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 68353, this pair ranks #510,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of erliegen vs erliegt

Shared letters: egilr. Private to "erliegen": n. Private to "erliegt": t.

"erliegen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "erliegt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erliegenelriegen · erilegen · erleigen · erlieegn · erliegenn · erlieggen · erliegne · erligeen
  • erliegtelriegt · erilegt · erleigt · erlieggt · erliegtt · erlietg · erliget · erlliegt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "erliegen" and "erliegt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈliːɡn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈliːkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "erliegen" or "erliegt" show up more?
"erliegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,235 in our German list, against #48,118 for "erliegt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "erliegen" and "erliegt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erliegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erliegt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #510,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erliegen" and "erliegt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erliegt vs erzieht". 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 #510,460 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