verhieltvsverrietTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,357
“verhielt” frequency rank
#19,756
“verriet” frequency rank
50113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhielt verriet
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verhalten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verraten

Where the eye mixes verhielt and verriet

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

8 ch
verhielt
7 ch
verriet

Why the eye confuses verhielt with verriet

A purely visual mix-up. verhielt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]) and verriet ([fɛɐ̯ˈʁiːt]) 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 50113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhielt is recorded at frequency rank #30,357, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]. verriet is at rank #19,756, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʁiːt].

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 50113, this pair ranks #1,186,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhielt vs verriet

Shared letters: eirtv. Private to "verhielt": hl. Private to "verriet": -.

"verhielt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "verriet" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhieltevrhielt · vehrielt · verhhielt · verhiellt · verhieltt · verhietl · verhilet · verihelt
  • verrietevrriet · veriet · veriret · verreit · verriett · verrite · vreriet · vverriet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhielt" for "verriet" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʁiːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verhielt" or "verriet" show up more?
"verriet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,756 in our German list, against #30,357 for "verhielt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "verhielt" and "verriet" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhielt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verriet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,186,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhielt" and "verriet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhielt vs verhielten". 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 #1,186,158 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