verhörenvsverhütenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,913
“verhören” frequency rank
#40,923
“verhüten” frequency rank
83836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhören verhüten
Definition jemanden einem Verhör unterziehen den Eintritt eines unerwünschten Ereignisses verhindern

Where the eye mixes verhören and verhüten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verhören and verhüten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
verhören
8 ch
verhüten

Look-alike desk: verhören vs verhüten

A purely visual mix-up. verhören ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]) and verhüten ([fɛɐ̯ˈhyːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83836, 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]. verhüten is at rank #40,923, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhyːtn̩].

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 83836, this pair ranks #133,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verhören vs verhüten

Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verhören": ö. Private to "verhüten": tü.

"verhören" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verhüten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verhören" and "verhüten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhyːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhören" vs "verhüten" - which ranks higher?
"verhüten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,923 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhüten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhören" and "verhüten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhören vs verworren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #133,352 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