verbrachtenvsverursachtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,752
“verbrachten” frequency rank
#14,981
“verursachten” frequency rank
32733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbrachten verursachten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verbracht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verursacht

Where the eye mixes verbrachten and verursachten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

11 ch
verbrachten
12 ch
verursachten

Look-alike desk: verbrachten vs verursachten

A purely visual mix-up. verbrachten ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaxtn̩]) and verursachten ([fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbrachten is recorded at frequency rank #17,752, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaxtn̩]. verursachten is at rank #14,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtn̩].

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 32733, this pair ranks #1,701,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbrachten vs verursachten

Shared letters: acehnrtv. Private to "verbrachten": b. Private to "verursachten": su.

"verbrachten" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCCVC  ·  "verursachten" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbrachtenevrbrachten · vebrrachten · verbarchten · verbbrachten · verbracchten · verbrachetn · verbrachhten · verbrachtenn
  • verursachtenevrursachten · verrursachten · verrusachten · veruraschten · verurrsachten · verursacchten · verursachetn · verursachhten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verbrachten" and "verursachten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaxtn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verbrachten" vs "verursachten" - which ranks higher?
"verursachten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,981 in our German list, against #17,752 for "verbrachten". 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 "verbrachten" and "verursachten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrachten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verursachten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,701,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbrachten" and "verursachten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbrachten vs verbrauchten". 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 #1,701,196 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