Which to use
“heben” is a verb and “herben” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,603
- “heben” frequency rank
- #40,593
- “herben” frequency rank
- 46196
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heben | herben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | auf größere Höhe bringen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herb |
Where the eye mixes heben and herben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses heben with herben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heben is [ˈheːbn̩] while herben is [ˈhɛʁbn̩]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heben is recorded at frequency rank #5,603, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈheːbn̩]. 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 46196, this pair ranks #1,327,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heben vs herben
Shared letters: behn. Private to "heben": -. Private to "herben": r.
"heben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "herben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heben" and "herben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "heben" or "herben" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "heben" and "herben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heben" 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 #1,327,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heben" 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 #1,327,256 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.