über
[ˈyːbɐ]
The verdict
“über” has 5 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #54. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #54
- frequency rank, German
- 443
- “Ü” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - oberhalb liegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wo?“)
Corpus desk
Index DE-uber · über · German
über · rank #54 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #54
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 443
- PHOTO-FINISH kann
Nearest frequency peer: kann (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “über”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- einer
einer
99,950 corpus weight
- zum
zum
99,949 corpus weight
- kann
kann
99,948 corpus weight
- über
über
99,947 corpus weight
- da
da
99,946 corpus weight
- dann
dann
99,945 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “über” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | über |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Preposition |
| IPA | [ˈyːbɐ] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #54 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “über” sits in German frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around über (IPA [ˈyːbɐ]), apreposition. Corpus frequency is #54 among 443 “Ü” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for über, with forms such as "büer", "übber", and "überr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "UE", "Uhr", "Uwe", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is über, spelled Ü-B-E-R.
Definition
- 1oberhalb liegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wo?“)
- 2sich oben, oberhalb von etwas, bewegend (Antwort auf die Frage „wohin?“)
- 3eine Zeitspanne ausdrückend
- 4sich durch etwas bewegend, etwas passierend
- 5auf etwas/jemanden gerichtetes Handeln: von
- 6bezeichnet einen Mittler: durch, mit Hilfe von
- 7lautend auf genau (nicht mehr als, siehe Adverb hierunter)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how über appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Der erste Stock liegt über dem Erdgeschoss.
Das Flugzeug fliegt über die Stadt.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- büer
- übber
- überr
- übre
- üebr
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of über - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "über"?
What does "über" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "über"?
How do you pronounce "über"?
What language does "über" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "über", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.