Which to use
“verhindern” and “verwundern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,494
- “verhindern” frequency rank
- #40,293
- “verwundern” frequency rank
- 41787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verhindern | verwundern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bewirken, dass etwas nicht geschieht oder dass jemand etwas nicht tun kann | jemanden erstaunen lassen, in Erstaunen über etwas versetzen |
Where the eye mixes verhindern and verwundern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verhindern and verwundern follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: verhindern vs verwundern
A purely visual mix-up. verhindern ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐn]) and verwundern ([fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndɐn]) 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 41787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verhindern is recorded at frequency rank #1,494, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐn]. verwundern is at rank #40,293, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndɐn].
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 41787, this pair ranks #1,469,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verhindern vs verwundern
Shared letters: denrv. Private to "verhindern": hi. Private to "verwundern": uw.
"verhindern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "verwundern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verhindern ← evrhindern · vehrindern · verhhindern · verhidnern · verhinddern · verhindenr · verhindernn · verhinderrn
- verwundern ← evrwundern · verrwundern · veruwndern · verwnudern · verwudnern · verwunddern · verwundenr · verwundernn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verhindern" for "verwundern" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "verhindern" or "verwundern" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "verhindern" and "verwundern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "verhindern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verwundern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,469,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verhindern" and "verwundern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vermindern vs verwundern". 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 #1,469,077 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.