VergabenvsvorgebenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Vergaben is a noun, vorgeben is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Vergaben” is a noun and “vorgeben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,085
“Vergaben” frequency rank
#21,475
“vorgeben” frequency rank
68560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vergaben vorgeben
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Vergabe eine Unwahrheit äußern und damit nur so tun als ob

Where the eye mixes Vergaben and vorgeben

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

8 ch
Vergaben
8 ch
vorgeben

Why the eye confuses Vergaben with vorgeben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Vergaben is [fɛɐ̯ˈɡaːbn̩] while vorgeben is [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːbn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Vergaben is recorded at frequency rank #47,085, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈɡaːbn̩]. vorgeben is at rank #21,475, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːbn̩].

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 68560, this pair ranks #503,930 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Vergaben vs vorgeben

Shared letters: begnrv. Private to "Vergaben": a. Private to "vorgeben": o.

"Vergaben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "vorgeben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vergaben ← evrgaben · vegraben · veragben · vergabben · vergabenn · vergabne · vergaebn · vergbaen
  • vorgeben ← ovrgeben · vogreben · voregben · vorgbeen · vorgebben · vorgebenn · vorgebne · vorgeebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Vergaben" and "vorgeben" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Vergaben" is a noun and "vorgeben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Vergaben" or "vorgeben" show up more?
"vorgeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,475 in our German list, against #47,085 for "Vergaben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Vergaben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgeben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #503,930 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Vergaben" and "vorgeben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vergaben vs vergebe". 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 #503,930 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