verfehltevsverkehrteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,111
“verfehlte” frequency rank
#23,765
“verkehrte” frequency rank
44876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verfehlte verkehrte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verfehlt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verkehrt

Where the eye mixes verfehlte and verkehrte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
verfehlte
9 ch
verkehrte

Look-alike desk: verfehlte vs verkehrte

A purely visual mix-up. verfehlte ([fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltə]) and verkehrte ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə]) 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 44876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verfehlte is recorded at frequency rank #21,111, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltə]. verkehrte is at rank #23,765, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə].

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 44876, this pair ranks #1,371,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verfehlte vs verkehrte

Shared letters: ehrtv. Private to "verfehlte": fl. Private to "verkehrte": k.

"verfehlte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "verkehrte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verfehlteevrfehlte · vefrehlte · verefhlte · verfehhlte · verfehlet · verfehllte · verfehltte · verfehtle
  • verkehrteevrkehrte · vekrehrte · verekhrte · verkehhrte · verkehret · verkehrrte · verkehrtte · verkehtre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verfehlte" and "verkehrte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verfehlte" or "verkehrte"?
"verfehlte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,111 in our German list, against #23,765 for "verkehrte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "verfehlte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verkehrte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,371,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verfehlte" and "verkehrte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verehrter vs verkehrte". 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 #1,371,797 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