Which to use
“verboten” is an adjective and “verwoben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,132
- “verboten” frequency rank
- #33,382
- “verwoben” frequency rank
- 35514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verboten | verwoben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht erlaubt | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verweben |
Where the eye mixes verboten and verwoben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verboten and verwoben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between verboten and verwoben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verboten is [fɛɐ̯ˈboːtn̩] while verwoben is [fɛɐ̯ˈvoːbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verboten is recorded at frequency rank #2,132, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈboːtn̩]. verwoben is at rank #33,382, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvoːbn̩].
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 35514, this pair ranks #1,638,187 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of verboten vs verwoben
Shared letters: benorv. Private to "verboten": t. Private to "verwoben": w.
"verboten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "verwoben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verboten" and "verwoben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verboten" or "verwoben" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "verboten" and "verwoben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "verboten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verwoben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,638,187 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verboten" and "verwoben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwoben vs verworren". 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 #1,638,187 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.