verhaftetevsverhärtetTell them apart

Quick tell: verhaftete is a adjective, verhärtet is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verhaftete” is an adjective and “verhärtet” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,015
“verhaftete” frequency rank
#49,345
“verhärtet” frequency rank
94360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhaftete verhärtet
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verhaftet 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhärten

Where the eye mixes verhaftete and verhärtet

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

10 ch
verhaftete
9 ch
verhärtet

Why the eye confuses verhaftete with verhärtet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verhaftete is [fɛɐ̯ˈhaftətə] while verhärtet is [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛʁtət]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhaftete is recorded at frequency rank #45,015, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaftətə]. verhärtet is at rank #49,345, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛʁtət].

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 94360, this pair ranks #17,225 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verhaftete vs verhärtet

Shared letters: ehrtv. Private to "verhaftete": af. Private to "verhärtet": ä.

"verhaftete" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV  ·  "verhärtet" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhafteteevrhaftete · vehraftete · verahftete · verhafette · verhafftete · verhafteet · verhaftette · verhafttee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhaftete" for "verhärtet" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verhaftete" is an adjective and "verhärtet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verhaftete" or "verhärtet" show up more?
"verhaftete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,015 in our German list, against #49,345 for "verhärtet". 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 "verhaftete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhärtet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,225 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhaftete" and "verhärtet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verharrt 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 #17,225 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