verbietenvsvermiesenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,229
“verbieten” frequency rank
#42,231
“vermiesen” frequency rank
47460
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbieten vermiesen
Definition Unterlassung fordern etwas Schönes (das jemand anderes erlebt, wie Freude, Spass oder gute Stimmung) stören/verderben

Where the eye mixes verbieten and vermiesen

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

9 ch
verbieten
9 ch
vermiesen

Visual trap between verbieten and vermiesen

A purely visual mix-up. verbieten ([fɛɐ̯ˈbiːtn̩]) and vermiesen ([fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩]) 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 47460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbieten is recorded at frequency rank #5,229, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbiːtn̩]. vermiesen is at rank #42,231, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩].

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 47460, this pair ranks #1,283,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbieten vs vermiesen

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verbieten": bt. Private to "vermiesen": ms.

"verbieten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "vermiesen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbieten ← evrbieten · vebrieten · verbbieten · verbeiten · verbieetn · verbietenn · verbietne · verbietten
  • vermiesen ← evrmiesen · vemriesen · verimesen · vermeisen · vermieesn · vermiesenn · vermiesne · vermiessen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbieten" for "vermiesen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbiːtn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verbieten" or "vermiesen"?
"verbieten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,229 in our German list, against #42,231 for "vermiesen". 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 "verbieten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermiesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,283,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbieten" and "vermiesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbissen 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 #1,283,440 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