Which to use
“verfangen” is a verb and “verlangten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,277
- “verfangen” frequency rank
- #19,067
- “verlangten” frequency rank
- 59344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verfangen | verlangten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den gewünschten oder beabsichtigten Erfolg haben; wirken | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verlangt |
Where the eye mixes verfangen and verlangten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verfangen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against verlangten's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: verfangen vs verlangten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verfangen is [fɛɐ̯ˈfaŋən] while verlangten is [fɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verfangen is recorded at frequency rank #40,277, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈfaŋən]. verlangten is at rank #19,067, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtn̩].
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 59344, this pair ranks #828,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verfangen vs verlangten
Shared letters: aegnrv. Private to "verfangen": f. Private to "verlangten": lt.
"verfangen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "verlangten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verfangen ← evrfangen · vefrangen · verafngen · verfagnen · verfanegn · verfangenn · verfanggen · verfangne
- verlangten ← evrlangten · velrangten · veralngten · verlagnten · verlangetn · verlanggten · verlangtenn · verlangtne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verfangen" for "verlangten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "verfangen" or "verlangten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "verfangen" and "verlangten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "verfangen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verlangten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #828,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verfangen" and "verlangten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verfangen vs verjagen". 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 #828,002 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.