verbergenvsverborgenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,680
“verbergen” frequency rank
#11,345
“verborgen” frequency rank
19025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbergen verborgen
Definition sich verstecken, damit man nicht gefunden wird aufgrund der versteckten, abgelegenen Lage schwer zu erreichen oder zu finden

Where the eye mixes verbergen and verborgen

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

9 ch
verbergen
9 ch
verborgen

Visual trap between verbergen and verborgen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbergen is [fɛɐ̯ˈbɛʁɡn̩] while verborgen is [fɛɐ̯ˈbɔʁɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “verbergen” becomes o in “verborgen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbergen is recorded at frequency rank #7,680, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɛʁɡn̩]. verborgen is at rank #11,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɔʁɡn̩].

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 19025, this pair ranks #1,912,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbergen vs verborgen

Shared letters: begnrv. Private to "verbergen": -. Private to "verborgen": o.

"verbergen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verborgen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbergen ← evrbergen · vebrergen · verbbergen · verbegren · verberegn · verbergenn · verberggen · verbergne
  • verborgen ← evrborgen · vebrorgen · verbborgen · verbogren · verboregn · verborgenn · verborggen · verborgne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbergen" for "verborgen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbergen" is a verb and "verborgen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verbergen" or "verborgen"?
"verbergen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,680 in our German list, against #11,345 for "verborgen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbergen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verborgen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,912,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbergen" and "verborgen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verborgen vs verworren". 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 #1,912,558 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