Which to use
“verholfen” is a verb and “verworfen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,342
- “verholfen” frequency rank
- #15,252
- “verworfen” frequency rank
- 46594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verholfen | verworfen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verhelfen | verkommen seiend |
Where the eye mixes verholfen and verworfen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verholfen and verworfen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses verholfen with verworfen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verholfen is [fɛɐ̯ˈhɔlfn̩] while verworfen is [fɛɐ̯ˈvɔʁfn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46594, 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]. verworfen is at rank #15,252, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvɔʁfn̩].
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 46594, this pair ranks #1,313,761 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verholfen vs verworfen
Shared letters: efnorv. Private to "verholfen": hl. Private to "verworfen": w.
"verholfen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "verworfen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verholfen" and "verworfen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verholfen" or "verworfen" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "verholfen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verworfen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,313,761 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verholfen" and "verworfen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verholfen vs verhören". 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 #1,313,761 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.