verhängenvsverlangtenTell them apart

Quick tell: verhängen is a verb, verlangten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#27,545
“verhängen” frequency rank
#19,067
“verlangten” frequency rank
46612
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhängen verlangten
Definition etwas mit einem Tuch oder dergleichen zuhängen, verbergen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verlangt

Where the eye mixes verhängen and verlangten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verhängen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against verlangten's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verhängen
10 ch
verlangten

Visual trap between verhängen and verlangten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verhängen is [fɛɐ̯ˈhɛŋən] while verlangten is [fɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46612, 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]. verlangten is at rank #19,067, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaŋtn̩].

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 46612, this pair ranks #1,313,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhängen vs verlangten

Shared letters: egnrv. Private to "verhängen": hä. Private to "verlangten": alt.

"verhängen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verlangten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlangten ← evrlangten · velrangten · veralngten · verlagnten · verlangetn · verlanggten · verlangtenn · verlangtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verhängen" and "verlangten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verhängen" is a verb and "verlangten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verhängen" vs "verlangten" - which ranks higher?
"verlangten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,067 in our German list, against #27,545 for "verhängen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhängen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlangten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,313,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhängen" and "verlangten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhängen vs verjagen". 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 #1,313,133 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