verhieltvsversiehtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,357
“verhielt” frequency rank
#40,289
“versieht” frequency rank
70646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhielt versieht
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verhalten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs versehen

Where the eye mixes verhielt and versieht

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

8 ch
verhielt
8 ch
versieht

Visual trap between verhielt and versieht

A purely visual mix-up. verhielt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]) and versieht ([fɛɐ̯ˈziːt]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70646, 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]. versieht is at rank #40,289, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈziːt].

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 70646, this pair ranks #440,038 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verhielt vs versieht

Shared letters: ehirtv. Private to "verhielt": l. Private to "versieht": s.

"verhielt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "versieht" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhieltevrhielt · vehrielt · verhhielt · verhiellt · verhieltt · verhietl · verhilet · verihelt
  • versiehtevrsieht · veriseht · verrsieht · verseiht · versiehht · versiehtt · versieth · versihet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhielt" for "versieht" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈziːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verhielt" or "versieht" show up more?
"verhielt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,357 in our German list, against #40,289 for "versieht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhielt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "versieht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #440,038 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhielt" and "versieht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "versieht vs verzieh". 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 #440,038 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