verbrennenvsverbrenntWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,413
“verbrennen” frequency rank
#14,195
“verbrennt” frequency rank
21608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verbrennen verbrennt
Definition etwas durch Feuer vernichten 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verbrennen

Where the eye mixes verbrennen and verbrennt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verbrennen runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCCVC) against verbrennt's 9 (CVCCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
verbrennen
9 ch
verbrennt

Why the eye confuses verbrennen with verbrennt

A purely visual mix-up. verbrennen ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnən]) and verbrennt ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnt]) 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 21608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verbrennen is recorded at frequency rank #7,413, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnən]. verbrennt is at rank #14,195, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnt].

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 21608, this pair ranks #1,884,248 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verbrennen vs verbrennt

Shared letters: benrv. Private to "verbrennen": -. Private to "verbrennt": t.

"verbrennen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "verbrennt" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verbrennen ← evrbrennen · vebrrennen · verbbrennen · verbernnen · verbrenen · verbrenenn · verbrennenn · verbrennne
  • verbrennt ← evrbrennt · vebrrennt · verbbrennt · verbernnt · verbrenntt · verbrent · verbrentn · verbrnent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verbrennen" for "verbrennt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈbʁɛnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verbrennen" or "verbrennt" show up more?
"verbrennen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,413 in our German list, against #14,195 for "verbrennt". 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 "verbrennen" and "verbrennt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrennen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verbrennt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,884,248 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verbrennen" and "verbrennt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbrennt vs verkennt". 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 #1,884,248 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