verbotenesvsverlorenesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,222
“verbotenes” frequency rank
#40,927
“verlorenes” frequency rank
83149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbotenes verlorenes
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verboten Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verloren

Where the eye mixes verbotenes and verlorenes

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

10 ch
verbotenes
10 ch
verlorenes

Visual trap between verbotenes and verlorenes

A purely visual mix-up. verbotenes ([fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənəs]) and verlorenes ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənəs]) 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 83149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbotenes is recorded at frequency rank #42,222, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənəs]. verlorenes is at rank #40,927, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənəs].

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 83149, this pair ranks #144,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verbotenes vs verlorenes

Shared letters: enorsv. Private to "verbotenes": bt. Private to "verlorenes": l.

"verbotenes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "verlorenes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbotenes ← evrbotenes · vebrotenes · verbbotenes · verboetnes · verboteens · verboteness · verbotennes · verbotense
  • verlorenes ← evrlorenes · velrorenes · verllorenes · verloernes · verloreens · verloreness · verlorennes · verlorense

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbotenes" for "verlorenes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈboːtənəs] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁənəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verbotenes" or "verlorenes"?
"verlorenes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,927 in our German list, against #42,222 for "verbotenes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbotenes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlorenes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbotenes" and "verlorenes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlogene vs verlorenes". 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 #144,796 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