verdammenvsverdankenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,964
“verdammen” frequency rank
#6,117
“verdanken” frequency rank
41081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdammen verdanken
Definition aus der (kirchlichen) Gemeinschaft ausschließen jemandem wegen etwas zu Dank verpflichtet sein

Where the eye mixes verdammen and verdanken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verdammen and verdanken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verdammen
9 ch
verdanken

Look-alike desk: verdammen vs verdanken

A purely visual mix-up. verdammen ([fɛɐ̯ˈdamən]) and verdanken ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]) 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 41081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdammen is recorded at frequency rank #34,964, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdamən]. verdanken is at rank #6,117, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩].

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 41081, this pair ranks #1,489,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verdammen vs verdanken

Shared letters: adenrv. Private to "verdammen": m. Private to "verdanken": k.

"verdammen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verdanken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdammenevrdammen · vedrammen · veradmmen · verdamemn · verdamen · verdammenn · verdammne · verddammen
  • verdankenevrdanken · vedranken · veradnken · verdaknen · verdanekn · verdankenn · verdankken · verdankne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verdammen" and "verdanken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdamən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verdammen" or "verdanken" show up more?
"verdanken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,117 in our German list, against #34,964 for "verdammen". 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 "verdammen" and "verdanken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdammen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verdanken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,489,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdammen" and "verdanken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verdammen vs verdampfen". 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 #1,489,922 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