verbotenenvsverlorenenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“verbotenen” and “verlorenen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,858
“verbotenen” frequency rank
#9,829
“verlorenen” frequency rank
26687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbotenen verlorenen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verboten Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verloren

Where the eye mixes verbotenen and verlorenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verbotenen and verlorenen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
verbotenen
10 ch
verlorenen

Visual trap between verbotenen and verlorenen

A purely visual mix-up. verbotenen ([fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənən]) and verlorenen ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənən]) 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 26687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbotenen is recorded at frequency rank #16,858, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənən]. verlorenen is at rank #9,829, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənən].

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 26687, this pair ranks #1,814,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbotenen vs verlorenen

Shared letters: enorv. Private to "verbotenen": bt. Private to "verlorenen": l.

"verbotenen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "verlorenen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbotenen ← evrbotenen · vebrotenen · verbbotenen · verboetnen · verboteenn · verbotenenn · verbotennen · verbotneen
  • verlorenen ← evrlorenen · velrorenen · verllorenen · verloernen · verloreenn · verlorenenn · verlorenne · verlorennen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verbotenen" and "verlorenen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verbotenen" vs "verlorenen" - which ranks higher?
"verlorenen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,829 in our German list, against #16,858 for "verbotenen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "verbotenen" and "verlorenen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbotenen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlorenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,814,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbotenen" and "verlorenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbotenen vs verbotenes". 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 #1,814,054 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