VerhörvsverhörtTell them apart

Quick tell: Verhör is a noun, verhört is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Verhör” is a noun and “verhört” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,354
“Verhör” frequency rank
#24,174
“verhört” frequency rank
47528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Verhör verhört
Definition militärische, polizeiliche oder gerichtliche Befragung, Vernehmung, Einvernahme 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhören

Where the eye mixes Verhör and verhört

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Verhör runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against verhört's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Verhör
7 ch
verhört

Look-alike desk: Verhör vs verhört

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verhör is [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯] while verhört is [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Verhör” sits inside “verhört”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Verhör is recorded at frequency rank #23,354, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯]. verhört is at rank #24,174, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t].

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 47528, this pair ranks #1,281,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Verhör vs verhört

Shared letters: ehrvö. Private to "Verhör": -. Private to "verhört": t.

"Verhör" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "verhört" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Verhör" for "verhört" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verhör" is a noun and "verhört" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Verhör" or "verhört" show up more?
"Verhör" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,354 in our German list, against #24,174 for "verhört". 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 "Verhör" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhört" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,281,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verhör" and "verhört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Verhör vs Vorhof". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,281,130 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