Which to use
“hear” is a verb and “herab” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,155
- “hear” frequency rank
- #11,672
- “herab” frequency rank
- 45827
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hear | herab |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | hören; mit dem Gehör wahrnehmen | von oben nach unten (meist in einer Perspektive, in der der Betrachter unten steht) |
Where the eye mixes hear and herab
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hear runs 4 letters (CVVC) against herab's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hear with herab
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hear is [hɪə(ɹ)] while herab is [hɛˈʁap]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hear is recorded at frequency rank #34,155, classified as averb, pronounced [hɪə(ɹ)]. herab is at rank #11,672, tagged as anadv, pronounced [hɛˈʁap].
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 45827, this pair ranks #1,339,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hear vs herab
Shared letters: aehr. Private to "hear": -. Private to "herab": b.
"hear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "herab" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hear" for "herab" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hear" or "herab"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "herab" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,339,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hear" and "herab" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hear vs Hemer". 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 #1,339,911 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.