verdutztvsverletztWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,082
“verdutzt” frequency rank
#1,275
“verletzt” frequency rank
48357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verdutzt verletzt
Definition durch etwas Unerwartetes in Erstaunen versetzt eine Kränkung oder Beleidigung erlitten habend, psychisch von jemandem aus dem Gleichgewicht gebracht worden sein

Where the eye mixes verdutzt and verletzt

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

8 ch
verdutzt
8 ch
verletzt

Visual trap between verdutzt and verletzt

A purely visual mix-up. verdutzt ([fɛɐ̯ˈdʊt͡st]) and verletzt ([fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡st]) 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 48357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verdutzt is recorded at frequency rank #47,082, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈdʊt͡st]. verletzt is at rank #1,275, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡st].

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 48357, this pair ranks #1,251,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verdutzt vs verletzt

Shared letters: ertvz. Private to "verdutzt": du. Private to "verletzt": l.

"verdutzt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC  ·  "verletzt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verdutzt ← evrdutzt · vedrutzt · verddutzt · verdtuzt · verduttz · verduttzt · verdutztt · verdutzzt
  • verletzt ← evrletzt · velretzt · vereltzt · verlettz · verlettzt · verletztt · verletzzt · verleztt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verdutzt" for "verletzt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈdʊt͡st] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡st]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verdutzt" or "verletzt" show up more?
"verletzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,275 in our German list, against #47,082 for "verdutzt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verdutzt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verletzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verdutzt" and "verletzt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verdutzt vs verputzt". 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 #1,251,519 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