verbiegenvsverliefenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,430
“verbiegen” frequency rank
#22,949
“verliefen” frequency rank
57379
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbiegen verliefen
Definition aus der (richtigen) Form bringen (so dass etwas nicht mehr so wie zuvor zu nutzen ist) 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verlaufen

Where the eye mixes verbiegen and verliefen

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

9 ch
verbiegen
9 ch
verliefen

Look-alike desk: verbiegen vs verliefen

A purely visual mix-up. verbiegen ([fɛɐ̯ˈbiːɡn̩]) and verliefen ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːfn̩]) 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 57379, 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]. verliefen is at rank #22,949, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːfn̩].

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 57379, this pair ranks #903,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbiegen vs verliefen

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verbiegen": bg. Private to "verliefen": fl.

"verbiegen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verliefen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbiegen ← evrbiegen · vebriegen · verbbiegen · verbeigen · verbieegn · verbiegenn · verbieggen · verbiegne
  • verliefen ← evrliefen · velriefen · verilefen · verleifen · verlieefn · verliefenn · verlieffen · verliefne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verbiegen" and "verliefen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbiːɡn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈliːfn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verbiegen" or "verliefen" show up more?
"verliefen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,949 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbiegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verliefen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #903,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbiegen" and "verliefen" 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 #903,640 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