verbrauchenvsverbrauchteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,576
“verbrauchen” frequency rank
#44,322
“verbrauchte” frequency rank
60898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbrauchen verbrauchte
Definition für die Bedürfnisbefriedigung verwenden Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verbraucht

Where the eye mixes verbrauchen and verbrauchte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. verbrauchen (CVCCCVVCCVC) and verbrauchte (CVCCCVVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
verbrauchen
11 ch
verbrauchte

Why the eye confuses verbrauchen with verbrauchte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbrauchen is [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaʊ̯xn̩] while verbrauchte is [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaʊ̯xtə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbrauchen is recorded at frequency rank #16,576, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaʊ̯xn̩]. verbrauchte is at rank #44,322, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaʊ̯xtə].

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 60898, this pair ranks #769,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verbrauchen vs verbrauchte

Shared letters: abcehruv. Private to "verbrauchen": n. Private to "verbrauchte": t.

"verbrauchen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVVCCVC  ·  "verbrauchte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbrauchen ← evrbrauchen · vebrrauchen · verbaruchen · verbbrauchen · verbracuhen · verbraucchen · verbraucehn · verbrauchenn
  • verbrauchte ← evrbrauchte · vebrrauchte · verbaruchte · verbbrauchte · verbracuhte · verbraucchte · verbrauchet · verbrauchhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verbrauchen" and "verbrauchte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbrauchen" is a verb and "verbrauchte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verbrauchen" or "verbrauchte"?
"verbrauchen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,576 in our German list, against #44,322 for "verbrauchte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrauchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrauchte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #769,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbrauchen" and "verbrauchte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbrauchte 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 #769,775 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