verdammtevsverdankteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,805
“verdammte” frequency rank
#49,338
“verdankte” frequency rank
58143
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdammte verdankte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verdammt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verdankt

Where the eye mixes verdammte and verdankte

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

9 ch
verdammte
9 ch
verdankte

Visual trap between verdammte and verdankte

A purely visual mix-up. verdammte ([fɛɐ̯ˈdamtə]) and verdankte ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə]) 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 58143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdammte is recorded at frequency rank #8,805, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdamtə]. verdankte is at rank #49,338, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə].

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 58143, this pair ranks #874,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verdammte vs verdankte

Shared letters: adertv. Private to "verdammte": m. Private to "verdankte": kn.

"verdammte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "verdankte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdammte ← evrdammte · vedrammte · veradmmte · verdammet · verdammtte · verdamte · verdamtme · verddammte
  • verdankte ← evrdankte · vedrankte · veradnkte · verdaknte · verdanket · verdankkte · verdanktte · verdannkte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verdammte" and "verdankte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdamtə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verdammte" or "verdankte" show up more?
"verdammte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,805 in our German list, against #49,338 for "verdankte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdammte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verdankte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #874,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdammte" and "verdankte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verdankte vs versenkte". 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 #874,071 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