verhängenvsverharrenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,545
“verhängen” frequency rank
#34,434
“verharren” frequency rank
61979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhängen verharren
Definition etwas mit einem Tuch oder dergleichen zuhängen, verbergen seinen Zustand / seine Stellung nicht ändern

Where the eye mixes verhängen and verharren

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

9 ch
verhängen
9 ch
verharren

Look-alike desk: verhängen vs verharren

A purely visual mix-up. verhängen ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋən]) and verharren ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaʁən]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhängen is recorded at frequency rank #27,545, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋən]. verharren is at rank #34,434, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaʁən].

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 61979, this pair ranks #729,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhängen vs verharren

Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verhängen": gä. Private to "verharren": a.

"verhängen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verharren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verharren ← evrharren · vehrarren · verahrren · verharen · verharern · verharrenn · verharrne · verhharren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verhängen" and "verharren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhaʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verhängen" or "verharren"?
"verhängen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,545 in our German list, against #34,434 for "verharren". 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 "verhängen" and "verharren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhängen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verharren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #729,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhängen" and "verharren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verharren vs verworren". 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 #729,744 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