VereidigungvsVerteidigungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,324
“Vereidigung” frequency rank
#3,496
“Verteidigung” frequency rank
47820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vereidigung Verteidigung
Definition das Ableisten eines Eides Rechtfertigung, Abwehr von/Verwahrung gegen Kritik

Where the eye mixes Vereidigung and Verteidigung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. Vereidigung runs 11 letters (CVCVVCVCVCC) against Verteidigung's 12 (CVCCVVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
Vereidigung
12 ch
Verteidigung

Visual trap between Vereidigung and Verteidigung

A purely visual mix-up. Vereidigung ([fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ]) and Verteidigung ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Vereidigung is recorded at frequency rank #44,324, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ]. Verteidigung is at rank #3,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ].

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 47820, this pair ranks #1,270,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Vereidigung vs Verteidigung

Shared letters: deginruv. Private to "Vereidigung": -. Private to "Verteidigung": t.

"Vereidigung" · 11 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVCC  ·  "Verteidigung" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vereidigung ← evreidigung · veeridigung · verediigung · vereiddigung · vereidgiung · vereidiggung · vereidignug · vereidigugn
  • Verteidigung ← evrteidigung · veretidigung · verrteidigung · vertediigung · verteiddigung · verteidgiung · verteidiggung · verteidignug

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Vereidigung" and "Verteidigung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Vereidigung" or "Verteidigung" show up more?
"Verteidigung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,496 in our German list, against #44,324 for "Vereidigung". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Vereidigung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Verteidigung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,270,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Vereidigung" and "Verteidigung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vereidigung vs Vereinigung". 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 #1,270,776 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