verdanktevsverhängteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,338
“verdankte” frequency rank
#30,358
“verhängte” frequency rank
79696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdankte verhängte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verdankt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verhängt

Where the eye mixes verdankte and verhängte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verdankte and verhängte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verdankte
9 ch
verhängte

Visual trap between verdankte and verhängte

A purely visual mix-up. verdankte ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə]) and verhängte ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋtə]) 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 79696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdankte is recorded at frequency rank #49,338, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə]. verhängte is at rank #30,358, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋtə].

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 79696, this pair ranks #211,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verdankte vs verhängte

Shared letters: enrtv. Private to "verdankte": adk. Private to "verhängte": ghä.

"verdankte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "verhängte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdankte ← evrdankte · vedrankte · veradnkte · verdaknte · verdanket · verdankkte · verdanktte · verdannkte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verdankte" for "verhängte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdaŋktə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verdankte" or "verhängte"?
"verhängte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,358 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdankte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhängte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #211,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdankte" and "verhängte" 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 #211,028 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