verfehltenvsvermehrtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,907
“verfehlten” frequency rank
#33,373
“vermehrten” frequency rank
76280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verfehlten vermehrten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verfehlt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs vermehrt

Where the eye mixes verfehlten and vermehrten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verfehlten and vermehrten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
verfehlten
10 ch
vermehrten

Visual trap between verfehlten and vermehrten

A purely visual mix-up. verfehlten ([fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltn̩]) and vermehrten ([fɛɐ̯ˈmeːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 76280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verfehlten is recorded at frequency rank #42,907, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltn̩]. vermehrten is at rank #33,373, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmeːɐ̯tn̩].

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 76280, this pair ranks #287,584 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verfehlten vs vermehrten

Shared letters: ehnrtv. Private to "verfehlten": fl. Private to "vermehrten": m.

"verfehlten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC  ·  "vermehrten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verfehltenevrfehlten · vefrehlten · verefhlten · verfehhlten · verfehletn · verfehllten · verfehltenn · verfehltne
  • vermehrtenevrmehrten · vemrehrten · veremhrten · vermehhrten · vermehretn · vermehrrten · vermehrtenn · vermehrtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verfehlten" for "vermehrten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈfeːltn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈmeːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verfehlten" or "vermehrten" show up more?
"vermehrten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,373 in our German list, against #42,907 for "verfehlten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verfehlten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermehrten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #287,584 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verfehlten" and "vermehrten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verehrter vs vermehrten". 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 #287,584 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