Which to use
“herbe” and “herber” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,086
- “herbe” frequency rank
- #39,991
- “herber” frequency rank
- 72077
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | herbe | herber |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs herb | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herb |
Where the eye mixes herbe and herber
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. herbe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against herber's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: herbe vs herber
A purely visual mix-up. herbe ([ˈhɛʁbə]) and herber ([ˈhɛʁbɐ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “herbe” sits inside “herber”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
herbe is recorded at frequency rank #32,086, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbə]. herber is at rank #39,991, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbɐ].
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 72077, this pair ranks #398,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of herbe vs herber
Shared letters: behr. Private to "herbe": -. Private to "herber": -.
"herbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "herber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "herbe" and "herber" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "herbe" vs "herber" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "herbe" and "herber" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "herbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "herber" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,494 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "herbe" and "herber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs herber". 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 #398,494 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.