verhieltvsverziehtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,357
“verhielt” frequency rank
#36,100
“verzieht” frequency rank
66457
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhielt verzieht
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verhalten 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verzeihen

Where the eye mixes verhielt and verzieht

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

Visual trap between verhielt and verzieht

A purely visual mix-up. verhielt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]) and verzieht ([fɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːt]) 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 66457, 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]. verzieht is at rank #36,100, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːt].

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 66457, this pair ranks #572,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhielt vs verzieht

Shared letters: ehirtv. Private to "verhielt": l. Private to "verzieht": z.

"verhielt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "verzieht" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhieltevrhielt · vehrielt · verhhielt · verhiellt · verhieltt · verhietl · verhilet · verihelt
  • verziehtevrzieht · verizeht · verrzieht · verziehht · verziehtt · verzieth · verzihet · verzzieht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhielt" for "verzieht" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈt͡siːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhielt" vs "verzieht" - which ranks higher?
"verhielt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,357 in our German list, against #36,100 for "verzieht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "verhielt" and "verzieht" 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 "verzieht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #572,599 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhielt" and "verzieht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verzieh vs verzieht". 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 #572,599 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