hebevshobTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,284
“hebe” frequency rank
#5,380
“hob” frequency rank
26664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hebe hob
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heben 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs heben

Where the eye mixes hebe and hob

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hebe
3 ch
hob

Why the eye confuses hebe with hob

A purely visual mix-up. hebe ([ˈheːbə]) and hob ([hoːp]) 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 26664, 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]. hob is at rank #5,380, tagged as averb, pronounced [hoːp].

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 26664, this pair ranks #1,814,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hebe vs hob

Shared letters: bh. Private to "hebe": e. Private to "hob": o.

"hebe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hob" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hebeehbe · hbee · hebbe · heeb · hhebe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hebe" for "hob" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːbə] versus [hoːp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hebe" vs "hob" - which ranks higher?
"hob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,380 in our German list, against #21,284 for "hebe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,814,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hebe" and "hob" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hebe 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 #1,814,480 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