verhörenvsverlorenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#42,913
“verhören” frequency rank
#739
“verloren” frequency rank
43652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhören verloren
Definition jemanden einem Verhör unterziehen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verlieren

Where the eye mixes verhören and verloren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verhören and verloren 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
verloren

Why the eye confuses verhören with verloren

A purely visual mix-up. verhören ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən]) and verloren ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən]) 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 43652, 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]. verloren is at rank #739, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən].

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 43652, this pair ranks #1,411,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhören vs verloren

Shared letters: enrv. Private to "verhören": hö. Private to "verloren": lo.

"verhören" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verloren" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verloren ← evrloren · velroren · verlloren · verloern · verlorenn · verlorne · verlorren · verlroen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verhören" for "verloren" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhøːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhören" vs "verloren" - which ranks higher?
"verloren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #739 in our German list, against #42,913 for "verhören". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "verloren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,411,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhören" and "verloren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhören vs verworren". 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 #1,411,256 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