Which to use
“verbleiben” and “verbreiten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,259
- “verbleiben” frequency rank
- #4,838
- “verbreiten” frequency rank
- 18097
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verbleiben | verbreiten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich auf etwas verständigen | in einen großen Umkreis gelangen |
Where the eye mixes verbleiben and verbreiten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verbleiben and verbreiten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: verbleiben vs verbreiten
A purely visual mix-up. verbleiben ([fɛɐ̯ˈblaɪ̯bn̩]) and verbreiten ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩]) 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 18097, 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]. verbreiten is at rank #4,838, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩].
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 18097, this pair ranks #1,921,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of verbleiben vs verbreiten
Shared letters: beinrv. Private to "verbleiben": l. Private to "verbreiten": t.
"verbleiben" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC · "verbreiten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verbleiben ← evrbleiben · vebrleiben · verbbleiben · verbeliben · verblebien · verbleibben · verbleibenn · verbleibne
- verbreiten ← evrbreiten · vebrreiten · verbbreiten · verberiten · verbreietn · verbreitenn · verbreitne · verbreitten
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verbleiben" and "verbreiten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verbleiben" or "verbreiten" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "verbleiben" and "verbreiten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "verbleiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verbreiten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,921,419 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verbleiben" and "verbreiten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbreite vs verbreiten". 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 #1,921,419 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.