VerhörvsverlorWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#23,354
“Verhör” frequency rank
#2,749
“verlor” frequency rank
26103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Verhör verlor
Definition militärische, polizeiliche oder gerichtliche Befragung, Vernehmung, Einvernahme 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verlieren

Where the eye mixes Verhör and verlor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Verhör and verlor follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Verhör
6 ch
verlor

Visual trap between Verhör and verlor

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verhör is [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯] while verlor is [fɛɐ̯ˈloːɐ̯]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26103, 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]. verlor is at rank #2,749, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːɐ̯].

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 26103, this pair ranks #1,823,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Verhör vs verlor

Shared letters: erv. Private to "Verhör": hö. Private to "verlor": lo.

"Verhör" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "verlor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlor ← evrlor · velror · verllor · verlorr · verlro · verolr · verrlor · vrelor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Verhör" and "verlor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verhör" is a noun and "verlor" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Verhör" or "verlor"?
"verlor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,749 in our German list, against #23,354 for "Verhör". 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 "verlor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,823,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verhör" and "verlor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Verhör vs Vorhof". 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 #1,823,100 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