verbreitenvsverbreitetenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,838
“verbreiten” frequency rank
#10,581
“verbreiteten” frequency rank
15419
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbreiten verbreiteten
Definition in einen großen Umkreis gelangen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verbreitet

Where the eye mixes verbreiten and verbreiteten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. verbreiten runs 10 letters (CVCCCVVCVC) against verbreiteten's 12 (CVCCCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
verbreiten
12 ch
verbreiteten

Look-alike desk: verbreiten vs verbreiteten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verbreiten is [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩] while verbreiteten is [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tətn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbreiten is recorded at frequency rank #4,838, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tn̩]. verbreiteten is at rank #10,581, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈbʁaɪ̯tətn̩].

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 15419, this pair ranks #1,943,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbreiten vs verbreiteten

Shared letters: beinrtv. Private to "verbreiten": -. Private to "verbreiteten": -.

"verbreiten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC  ·  "verbreiteten" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbreiten ← evrbreiten · vebrreiten · verbbreiten · verberiten · verbreietn · verbreitenn · verbreitne · verbreitten
  • verbreiteten ← evrbreiteten · vebrreiteten · verbbreiteten · verberiteten · verbreietten · verbreiteetn · verbreitetenn · verbreitetne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verbreiten" and "verbreiteten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verbreiten" is a verb and "verbreiteten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verbreiten" or "verbreiteten" show up more?
"verbreiten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,838 in our German list, against #10,581 for "verbreiteten". 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 "verbreiten" and "verbreiteten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbreiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbreiteten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,943,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbreiten" and "verbreiteten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbreiteten vs verbreitetes". 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 #1,943,998 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