verärgernvsverärgertTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#42,922
“verärgern” frequency rank
#11,778
“verärgert” frequency rank
54700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verärgern verärgert
Definition jemandem die Laune verderben, Missmut (Ärger) hervorrufen als Person Ärger empfindend, beispielsweise wegen jemandes Äußerungen oder Benehmen

Where the eye mixes verärgern and verärgert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verärgern and verärgert follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verärgern
9 ch
verärgert

Visual trap between verärgern and verärgert

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verärgern is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɛʁɡɐn] while verärgert is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɛʁɡɐt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “verärgern” becomes t in “verärgert”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verärgern is recorded at frequency rank #42,922, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɛʁɡɐn]. verärgert is at rank #11,778, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɛʁɡɐt].

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 54700, this pair ranks #1,008,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verärgern vs verärgert

Shared letters: egrvä. Private to "verärgern": n. Private to "verärgert": t.

"verärgern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "verärgert" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verärgern" for "verärgert" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verärgern" is a verb and "verärgert" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verärgern" or "verärgert"?
"verärgert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,778 in our German list, against #42,922 for "verärgern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verärgern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verärgert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,008,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verärgern" and "verärgert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verankern vs verärgern". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,008,574 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