Which to use
“hebe” is a verb and “herben” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,284
- “hebe” frequency rank
- #40,593
- “herben” frequency rank
- 61877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hebe | herben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heben | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herb |
Where the eye mixes hebe and herben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hebe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against herben's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hebe and herben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hebe is [ˈheːbə] while herben is [ˈhɛʁbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hebe is recorded at frequency rank #21,284, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈheːbə]. herben is at rank #40,593, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbn̩].
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 61877, this pair ranks #733,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hebe vs herben
Shared letters: beh. Private to "hebe": -. Private to "herben": nr.
"hebe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "herben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hebe" and "herben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "hebe" or "herben" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "herben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #733,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hebe" and "herben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs herben". 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 #733,367 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.