verhindertevsverhindertenTell them apart

Quick tell: verhinderte is a verb, verhinderten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verhinderte” is a verb and “verhinderten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,975
“verhinderte” frequency rank
#26,216
“verhinderten” frequency rank
41191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhinderte verhinderten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verhindern Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verhindert

Where the eye mixes verhinderte and verhinderten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. verhinderte runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCVCCV) against verhinderten's 12 (CVCCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
verhinderte
12 ch
verhinderten

Visual trap between verhinderte and verhinderten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verhinderte is [fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐtə] while verhinderten is [fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “verhinderte” sits inside “verhinderten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhinderte is recorded at frequency rank #14,975, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐtə]. verhinderten is at rank #26,216, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɪndɐtn̩].

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 41191, this pair ranks #1,486,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhinderte vs verhinderten

Shared letters: dehinrtv. Private to "verhinderte": -. Private to "verhinderten": -.

"verhinderte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCV  ·  "verhinderten" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhinderte ← evrhinderte · vehrinderte · verhhinderte · verhidnerte · verhindderte · verhinderet · verhinderrte · verhindertte
  • verhinderten ← evrhinderten · vehrinderten · verhhinderten · verhidnerten · verhindderten · verhinderetn · verhinderrten · verhindertenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verhinderte" and "verhinderten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verhinderte" is a verb and "verhinderten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verhinderte" vs "verhinderten" - which ranks higher?
"verhinderte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,975 in our German list, against #26,216 for "verhinderten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhinderte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhinderten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,486,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhinderte" and "verhinderten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhinderten vs verringerten". 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 #1,486,700 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