verbliebenvsverliehenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#27,994
“verblieben” frequency rank
#5,662
“verliehen” frequency rank
33656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verblieben verliehen
Definition übrig seiend, noch vorhanden Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verleihen

Where the eye mixes verblieben and verliehen

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

10 ch
verblieben
9 ch
verliehen

Look-alike desk: verblieben vs verliehen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verblieben is [fɛɐ̯ˈbliːbn̩] while verliehen is [fɛɐ̯ˈliːən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verblieben is recorded at frequency rank #27,994, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbliːbn̩]. verliehen is at rank #5,662, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːən].

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 33656, this pair ranks #1,680,973 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verblieben vs verliehen

Shared letters: eilnrv. Private to "verblieben": b. Private to "verliehen": h.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbliebenevrblieben · vebrlieben · verbblieben · verbileben · verblibeen · verbliebben · verbliebenn · verbliebne
  • verliehenevrliehen · velriehen · verilehen · verlieehn · verliehenn · verliehhen · verliehne · verliheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verblieben" and "verliehen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verblieben" is an adjective and "verliehen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verblieben" vs "verliehen" - which ranks higher?
"verliehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,662 in our German list, against #27,994 for "verblieben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verblieben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verliehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,680,973 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verblieben" and "verliehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verblieb vs verblieben". 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 #1,680,973 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