verhörenvsverhörtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,913
“verhören” frequency rank
#24,174
“verhört” frequency rank
67087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhören verhört
Definition jemanden einem Verhör unterziehen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhören

Where the eye mixes verhören and verhört

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verhören runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against verhört's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
verhören
7 ch
verhört

Visual trap between verhören and verhört

A purely visual mix-up. verhören ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]) and verhört ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t]) 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 67087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhören is recorded at frequency rank #42,913, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]. 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 67087, this pair ranks #551,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhören vs verhört

Shared letters: ehrvö. Private to "verhören": n. Private to "verhört": t.

"verhören" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verhört" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verhören" and "verhört" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verhören" or "verhört"?
"verhört" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,174 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhören" 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 #551,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhören" and "verhört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhören vs verworren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #551,700 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