über

/[ˈyːbɐ]/ prep

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#54

in German word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

über is aGermanprep. It means: oberhalb liegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wo?“) Pronounced [ˈyːbɐ]. It ranks #54 in German word frequency. Often confused with UE and Uhr.

Key facts for über
PropertyValue
Headwordüber
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPrep
IPA[ˈyːbɐ]
Letters4
Frequency rank#54
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of über in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for über is 4 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈyːbɐ]. Corpus data places it at rank #54 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for über, with forms such as "büer", "übber", and "überr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "UE", "Uhr", "Uwe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is über, spelled Ü-B-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    oberhalb liegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wo?“)
  2. 2
    sich oben, oberhalb von etwas, bewegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wohin?“)
  3. 3
    eine Zeitspanne ausdrückend
  4. 4
    sich durch etwas bewegend, etwas passierend
  5. 5
    auf etwas/jemanden gerichtetes Handeln: von
  6. 6
    bezeichnet einen Mittler: durch, mit Hilfe von
  7. 7
    lautend auf genau (nicht mehr als, siehe Adverb hierunter)

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: büer,übber,überr,übre,üebr

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for über

Misspelling Variants of "über"

büer4übber5überr5übre4üebr4
Misspelling Variants of "über"

Frequency rank: #54 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "über"?
"über" is spelled Ü-B-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈyːbɐ].
What does "über" mean?
As a prep, "über" means: oberhalb liegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wo?“)
What words are commonly confused with "über"?
"über" is commonly confused with "UE", "Uhr", "Uwe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "über"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "über" is [ˈyːbɐ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "über" come from?
"über" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter Ü in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.