VerhauenvsverratenTell them apart

Quick tell: Verhauen is a noun, verraten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Verhauen” is a noun and “verraten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,538
“Verhauen” frequency rank
#3,928
“verraten” frequency rank
45466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Verhauen verraten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Verhau jemandem ein Geheimnis oder eine vertrauliche Nachricht preisgeben

Where the eye mixes Verhauen and verraten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Verhauen (CVCCVVVC) and verraten (CVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
Verhauen
8 ch
verraten

Why the eye confuses Verhauen with verraten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verhauen is [fɛɐ̯ˈhaʊ̯ən] while verraten is [fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Verhauen is recorded at frequency rank #41,538, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaʊ̯ən]. verraten is at rank #3,928, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtn̩].

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 45466, this pair ranks #1,352,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Verhauen vs verraten

Shared letters: aenrv. Private to "Verhauen": hu. Private to "verraten": t.

"Verhauen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC  ·  "verraten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Verhauen ← evrhauen · vehrauen · verahuen · verhaeun · verhauenn · verhaune · verhhauen · verhuaen
  • verraten ← evrraten · verarten · veraten · verraetn · verratenn · verratne · verratten · verrtaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Verhauen" and "verraten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verhauen" is a noun and "verraten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Verhauen" or "verraten" show up more?
"verraten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,928 in our German list, against #41,538 for "Verhauen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Verhauen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verraten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,352,048 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verhauen" and "verraten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vergaben vs Verhauen". 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 #1,352,048 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