verbannenvsverfangenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,758
“verbannen” frequency rank
#40,277
“verfangen” frequency rank
64035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbannen verfangen
Definition jemanden mit einem Bann belegen, jemand eines Gebiets verweisen den gewünschten oder beabsichtigten Erfolg haben; wirken

Where the eye mixes verbannen and verfangen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verbannen and verfangen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verbannen
9 ch
verfangen

Look-alike desk: verbannen vs verfangen

A purely visual mix-up. verbannen ([fɛɐ̯ˈbanən]) and verfangen ([fɛɐ̯ˈfaŋən]) 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 64035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbannen is recorded at frequency rank #23,758, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbanən]. verfangen is at rank #40,277, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈfaŋən].

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 64035, this pair ranks #655,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbannen vs verfangen

Shared letters: aenrv. Private to "verbannen": b. Private to "verfangen": fg.

"verbannen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verfangen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbannen ← evrbannen · vebrannen · verabnnen · verbanen · verbanenn · verbannenn · verbannne · verbbannen
  • verfangen ← evrfangen · vefrangen · verafngen · verfagnen · verfanegn · verfangenn · verfanggen · verfangne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verbannen" and "verfangen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbanən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈfaŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verbannen" or "verfangen"?
"verbannen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,758 in our German list, against #40,277 for "verfangen". 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 "verbannen" and "verfangen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verfangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #655,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbannen" and "verfangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verfangen vs verjagen". 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 #655,687 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