hebenvsHerrnTell them apart

Quick tell: heben is a verb, Herrn is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“heben” is a verb and “Herrn” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,603
“heben” frequency rank
#1,699
“Herrn” frequency rank
7302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heben Herrn
Definition auf größere Höhe bringen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Herr

Where the eye mixes heben and Herrn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
heben
5 ch
Herrn

Why the eye confuses heben with Herrn

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heben is [ˈheːbn̩] while Herrn is [hɛʁn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7302, 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]. Herrn is at rank #1,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛʁn].

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 7302, this pair ranks #1,988,653 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heben vs Herrn

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "heben": b. Private to "Herrn": r.

"heben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Herrn" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hebenehben · hbeen · hebben · hebenn · hebne · heebn · hheben
  • Herrnehrrn · hern · hernr · herrnn · hherrn · hrern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heben" for "Herrn" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heben" is a verb and "Herrn" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "heben" or "Herrn"?
"Herrn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,699 in our German list, against #5,603 for "heben". 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 "heben" and "Herrn" 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 "Herrn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,653 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heben" and "Herrn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heben 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 #1,988,653 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