verdanktvsverhängtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,030
“verdankt” frequency rank
#12,819
“verhängt” frequency rank
28849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdankt verhängt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verdanken Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verhängen

Where the eye mixes verdankt and verhängt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. verdankt and verhängt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
verdankt
8 ch
verhängt

Why the eye confuses verdankt with verhängt

A purely visual mix-up. verdankt ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkt]) and verhängt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋt]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdankt is recorded at frequency rank #16,030, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkt]. verhängt is at rank #12,819, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋt].

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 28849, this pair ranks #1,777,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verdankt vs verhängt

Shared letters: enrtv. Private to "verdankt": adk. Private to "verhängt": ghä.

"verdankt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC  ·  "verhängt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdankt ← evrdankt · vedrankt · veradnkt · verdaknt · verdankkt · verdanktt · verdannkt · verdantk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verdankt" and "verhängt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋkt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verdankt" vs "verhängt" - which ranks higher?
"verhängt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,819 in our German list, against #16,030 for "verdankt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdankt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhängt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,777,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdankt" and "verhängt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verdankt 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 #1,777,490 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