verholfenvsverhörenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,342
“verholfen” frequency rank
#42,913
“verhören” frequency rank
74255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verholfen verhören
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verhelfen jemanden einem Verhör unterziehen

Where the eye mixes verholfen and verhören

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verholfen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against verhören's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verholfen
8 ch
verhören

Visual trap between verholfen and verhören

A purely visual mix-up. verholfen ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɔlfn̩]) and verhören ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]) 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 74255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verholfen is recorded at frequency rank #31,342, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhɔlfn̩]. verhören is at rank #42,913, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən].

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 74255, this pair ranks #338,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verholfen vs verhören

Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verholfen": flo. Private to "verhören": ö.

"verholfen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verhören" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verholfen ← evrholfen · vehrolfen · verhholfen · verhlofen · verhoflen · verholefn · verholfenn · verholffen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verholfen" for "verhören" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhɔlfn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verholfen" or "verhören"?
"verholfen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,342 in our German list, against #42,913 for "verhören". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verholfen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhören" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #338,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verholfen" and "verhören" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhören vs verworren". 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 #338,282 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