Which to use
“verbleiben” is a verb and “verblieben” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,259
- “verbleiben” frequency rank
- #27,994
- “verblieben” frequency rank
- 41253
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verbleiben | verblieben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich auf etwas verständigen | übrig seiend, noch vorhanden |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set verbleiben and verblieben apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
verbleiben and verblieben form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (ei ↔ ie) - a transposition the eye reads straight past - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verbleiben is recorded at frequency rank #13,259, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈblaɪ̯bn̩]. 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 41253, this pair ranks #1,484,906 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "verbleiben" and "verblieben" be used interchangeably?
Remembering verbleiben vs verblieben
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “verbleiben”; for an adjective, it's “verblieben”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “verbleiben” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable