verbiegenvsverbliebenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#34,430
“verbiegen” frequency rank
#27,994
“verblieben” frequency rank
62424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbiegen verblieben
Definition aus der (richtigen) Form bringen (so dass etwas nicht mehr so wie zuvor zu nutzen ist) übrig seiend, noch vorhanden

Where the eye mixes verbiegen and verblieben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verbiegen runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against verblieben's 10 (CVCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verbiegen
10 ch
verblieben

Why the eye confuses verbiegen with verblieben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbiegen is [fɛɐ̯ˈbiːɡn̩] while verblieben is [fɛɐ̯ˈbliːbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 62424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbiegen is recorded at frequency rank #34,430, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbiːɡn̩]. verblieben is at rank #27,994, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbliːbn̩].

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 62424, this pair ranks #713,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbiegen vs verblieben

Shared letters: beinrv. Private to "verbiegen": g. Private to "verblieben": l.

"verbiegen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verblieben" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbiegenevrbiegen · vebriegen · verbbiegen · verbeigen · verbieegn · verbiegenn · verbieggen · verbiegne
  • verbliebenevrblieben · vebrlieben · verbblieben · verbileben · verblibeen · verbliebben · verbliebenn · verbliebne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verbiegen" and "verblieben" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbiegen" is a verb and "verblieben" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verbiegen" or "verblieben" show up more?
"verblieben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,994 in our German list, against #34,430 for "verbiegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbiegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verblieben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #713,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbiegen" and "verblieben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbiegen vs vermiesen". 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 #713,395 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