verbessernvsverbessertWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,747
“verbessern” frequency rank
#3,548
“verbessert” frequency rank
6295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbessern verbessert
Definition korrigieren; berichtigen; nach Fehlern suchen und diese entfernen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verbessern

Where the eye mixes verbessern and verbessert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verbessern and verbessert follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
verbessern
10 ch
verbessert

Why the eye confuses verbessern with verbessert

A purely visual mix-up. verbessern ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐn]) and verbessert ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “verbessern” becomes t in “verbessert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbessern is recorded at frequency rank #2,747, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐn]. verbessert is at rank #3,548, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐt].

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 6295, this pair ranks #1,992,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbessern vs verbessert

Shared letters: bersv. Private to "verbessern": n. Private to "verbessert": t.

"verbessern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "verbessert" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbessernevrbessern · vebressern · verbbessern · verbesern · verbesesrn · verbessenr · verbessernn · verbesserrn
  • verbessertevrbessert · vebressert · verbbessert · verbesert · verbesesrt · verbesserrt · verbessertt · verbessetr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verbessern" and "verbessert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐn] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈbɛsɐt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verbessern" vs "verbessert" - which ranks higher?
"verbessern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,747 in our German list, against #3,548 for "verbessert". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbessern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbessert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbessern" and "verbessert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbessert vs verbesserter". 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 #1,992,114 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