verhaftenvsverwaltenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,752
“verhaften” frequency rank
#13,511
“verwalten” frequency rank
33263
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhaften verwalten
Definition jemanden in Haft, in Gewahrsam nehmen sich auftragsgemäß um etwas kümmern

Where the eye mixes verhaften and verwalten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verhaften and verwalten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verhaften
9 ch
verwalten

Visual trap between verhaften and verwalten

A purely visual mix-up. verhaften ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaftn̩]) and verwalten ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaltn̩]) 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 33263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhaften is recorded at frequency rank #19,752, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaftn̩]. verwalten is at rank #13,511, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaltn̩].

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 33263, this pair ranks #1,689,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verhaften vs verwalten

Shared letters: aenrtv. Private to "verhaften": fh. Private to "verwalten": lw.

"verhaften" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verwalten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhaften ← evrhaften · vehraften · verahften · verhafetn · verhafften · verhaftenn · verhaftne · verhaftten
  • verwalten ← evrwalten · verawlten · verrwalten · verwaletn · verwallten · verwaltenn · verwaltne · verwaltten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verhaften" and "verwalten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaftn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhaften" vs "verwalten" - which ranks higher?
"verwalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,511 in our German list, against #19,752 for "verhaften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhaften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwalten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,689,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhaften" and "verwalten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhaften vs verhärtet". 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 #1,689,780 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