verachtenvsverbrachtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: verachten is a verb, verbrachten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verachten” is a verb and “verbrachten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,433
“verachten” frequency rank
#17,752
“verbrachten” frequency rank
37185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verachten verbrachten
Definition etwas oder jemanden geringschätzen/verabscheuen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verbracht

Where the eye mixes verachten and verbrachten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verachten runs 9 letters (CVCVCCCVC) against verbrachten's 11 (CVCCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verachten
11 ch
verbrachten

Visual trap between verachten and verbrachten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verachten is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtn̩] while verbrachten is [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaxtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verachten is recorded at frequency rank #19,433, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔaxtn̩]. verbrachten is at rank #17,752, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaxtn̩].

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 37185, this pair ranks #1,596,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verachten vs verbrachten

Shared letters: acehnrtv. Private to "verachten": -. Private to "verbrachten": b.

"verachten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "verbrachten" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verachtenevrachten · vearchten · veracchten · verachetn · verachhten · verachtenn · verachtne · verachtten
  • verbrachtenevrbrachten · vebrrachten · verbarchten · verbbrachten · verbracchten · verbrachetn · verbrachhten · verbrachtenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verachten" for "verbrachten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verachten" is a verb and "verbrachten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verachten" or "verbrachten"?
"verbrachten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,752 in our German list, against #19,433 for "verachten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "verachten" and "verbrachten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verachten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrachten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,596,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verachten" and "verbrachten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbrachten vs verbrauchten". 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 #1,596,684 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