Which to use
“verhört” is a verb and “verpönt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,174
- “verhört” frequency rank
- #36,095
- “verpönt” frequency rank
- 60269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verhört | verpönt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhören | von der Gesellschaft, von anderen Menschen für schlecht gehalten, unerwünscht |
Where the eye mixes verhört and verpönt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. verhört and verpönt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between verhört and verpönt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verhört is [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t] while verpönt is [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈpøːnt]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verhört is recorded at frequency rank #24,174, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhøːɐ̯t]. verpönt is at rank #36,095, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈpøːnt].
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 60269, this pair ranks #793,291 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verhört vs verpönt
Shared letters: ertvö. Private to "verhört": h. Private to "verpönt": np.
"verhört" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "verpönt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verhört" for "verpönt" ever safe?
Frequency check: "verhört" vs "verpönt" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "verhört" and "verpönt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "verhört" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verpönt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #793,291 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verhört" and "verpönt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verplant vs verpönt". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #793,291 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.