verdankenvsverpackenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,117
“verdanken” frequency rank
#24,180
“verpacken” frequency rank
30297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdanken verpacken
Definition jemandem wegen etwas zu Dank verpflichtet sein etwas zum Transport so in etwas einwickeln oder hineinlegen, dass es vor Transportschäden geschützt ist

Where the eye mixes verdanken and verpacken

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

9 ch
verdanken
9 ch
verpacken

Visual trap between verdanken and verpacken

A purely visual mix-up. verdanken ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]) and verpacken ([fɛɐ̯ˈpakn̩]) 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 30297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdanken is recorded at frequency rank #6,117, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩]. verpacken is at rank #24,180, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈpakn̩].

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 30297, this pair ranks #1,750,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verdanken vs verpacken

Shared letters: aeknrv. Private to "verdanken": d. Private to "verpacken": cp.

"verdanken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verpacken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdanken ← evrdanken · vedranken · veradnken · verdaknen · verdanekn · verdankenn · verdankken · verdankne
  • verpacken ← evrpacken · vepracken · verapcken · verpaccken · verpacekn · verpackenn · verpackken · verpackne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verdanken" for "verpacken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈpakn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verdanken" or "verpacken"?
"verdanken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,117 in our German list, against #24,180 for "verpacken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "verdanken" and "verpacken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdanken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verpacken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,750,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdanken" and "verpacken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verdanken vs verdankte". 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 #1,750,629 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