verbogenvsverborgeneTell them apart

Quick tell: verbogen is a verb, verborgene is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#40,920
“verbogen” frequency rank
#24,558
“verborgene” frequency rank
65478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbogen verborgene
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verbiegen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verborgen

Where the eye mixes verbogen and verborgene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
verbogen
10 ch
verborgene

Why the eye confuses verbogen with verborgene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbogen is [fɛɐ̯ˈboːɡn̩] while verborgene is [fɛɐ̯ˈbɔʁɡənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbogen is recorded at frequency rank #40,920, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈboːɡn̩]. verborgene is at rank #24,558, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbɔʁɡənə].

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 65478, this pair ranks #605,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbogen vs verborgene

Shared letters: begnorv. Private to "verbogen": -. Private to "verborgene": -.

"verbogen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verborgene" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbogenevrbogen · vebrogen · verbbogen · verbgoen · verboegn · verbogenn · verboggen · verbogne
  • verborgeneevrborgene · vebrorgene · verbborgene · verbogrene · verboregne · verborgeen · verborggene · verborgnee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbogen" for "verborgene" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbogen" is a verb and "verborgene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verbogen" or "verborgene" show up more?
"verborgene" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,558 in our German list, against #40,920 for "verbogen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbogen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verborgene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #605,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbogen" and "verborgene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbogen vs Vorboten". 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 #605,544 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