verhaltevsverrateTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,909
“verhalte” frequency rank
#23,768
“verrate” frequency rank
52677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhalte verrate
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhalten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verraten

Where the eye mixes verhalte and verrate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
verhalte
7 ch
verrate

Visual trap between verhalte and verrate

A purely visual mix-up. verhalte ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaltə]) and verrate ([fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhalte is recorded at frequency rank #28,909, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaltə]. verrate is at rank #23,768, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə].

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 52677, this pair ranks #1,087,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhalte vs verrate

Shared letters: aertv. Private to "verhalte": hl. Private to "verrate": -.

"verhalte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "verrate" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhalteevrhalte · vehralte · verahlte · verhalet · verhallte · verhaltte · verhatle · verhhalte
  • verrateevrrate · verarte · verate · verraet · verratte · verrtae · vrerate · vverrate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhalte" for "verrate" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaltə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhalte" vs "verrate" - which ranks higher?
"verrate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,768 in our German list, against #28,909 for "verhalte". 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 "verhalte" and "verrate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhalte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verrate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,087,539 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhalte" and "verrate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhalte 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 #1,087,539 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