Which to use
“Verhauen” is a noun and “versauen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,538
- “Verhauen” frequency rank
- #21,116
- “versauen” frequency rank
- 62654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Verhauen | versauen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Verhau | etwas sehr, sehr schlecht erledigen oder behandeln, so dass es missglückt oder zerstört ist |
Where the eye mixes Verhauen and versauen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Verhauen and versauen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Verhauen vs versauen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verhauen is [fɛɐ̯ˈhaʊ̯ən] while versauen is [fɛɐ̯ˈzaʊ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “Verhauen” becomes s in “versauen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62654, 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]. versauen is at rank #21,116, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈzaʊ̯ən].
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 62654, this pair ranks #704,941 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Verhauen vs versauen
Shared letters: aenruv. Private to "Verhauen": h. Private to "versauen": s.
"Verhauen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC · "versauen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Verhauen" for "versauen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Verhauen" or "versauen" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "versauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #704,941 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Verhauen" and "versauen" 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 #704,941 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.