hervorgehenvshervorhebenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,612
“hervorgehen” frequency rank
#23,562
“hervorheben” frequency rank
55174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hervorgehen hervorheben
Definition (auch figurativ) aus etwas entstehen; aus etwas resultieren; durch etwas bedingt sein; sich aus etwas ergeben etwas im hohen Maße betonen

Where the eye mixes hervorgehen and hervorheben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. hervorgehen and hervorheben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
hervorgehen
11 ch
hervorheben

Look-alike desk: hervorgehen vs hervorheben

A purely visual mix-up. hervorgehen ([hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən]) and hervorheben ([hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌheːbn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hervorgehen is recorded at frequency rank #31,612, classified as averb, pronounced [hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən]. hervorheben is at rank #23,562, tagged as averb, pronounced [hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌheːbn̩].

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 55174, this pair ranks #989,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hervorgehen vs hervorheben

Shared letters: ehnorv. Private to "hervorgehen": g. Private to "hervorheben": b.

"hervorgehen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC  ·  "hervorheben" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hervorgehen ← ehrvorgehen · herovrgehen · herrvorgehen · hervogrehen · hervoreghen · hervorgeehn · hervorgehenn · hervorgehhen
  • hervorheben ← ehrvorheben · herovrheben · herrvorheben · hervohreben · hervorehben · hervorhbeen · hervorhebben · hervorhebenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hervorgehen" for "hervorheben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən] versus [hɛɐ̯ˈfoːɐ̯ˌheːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hervorgehen" vs "hervorheben" - which ranks higher?
"hervorheben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,562 in our German list, against #31,612 for "hervorgehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hervorgehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hervorheben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #989,877 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hervorgehen" and "hervorheben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hervorheben vs Hervorhebung". 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 #989,877 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