Which to use
“verderben” is a verb and “Vermerken” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,652
- “verderben” frequency rank
- #39,103
- “Vermerken” frequency rank
- 48755
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verderben | Vermerken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas unbrauchbar oder zunichte machen, speziell auch jemandem ein positives Gefühl nehmen | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Vermerk |
Where the eye mixes verderben and Vermerken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verderben and Vermerken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: verderben vs Vermerken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verderben is [fɛɐ̯ˈdɛʁbn̩] while Vermerken is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɛʁkn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verderben is recorded at frequency rank #9,652, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdɛʁbn̩]. Vermerken is at rank #39,103, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmɛʁkn̩].
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 48755, this pair ranks #1,236,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verderben vs Vermerken
Shared letters: enrv. Private to "verderben": bd. Private to "Vermerken": km.
"verderben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "Vermerken" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verderben" for "Vermerken" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "verderben" or "Vermerken" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "verderben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Vermerken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,236,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verderben" and "Vermerken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vererben vs Vermerken". 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 #1,236,890 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.