verhungernvsverhungertWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,723
“verhungern” frequency rank
#28,448
“verhungert” frequency rank
42171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhungern verhungert
Definition aufgrund von Nahrungsmangel sterben 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verhungern

Where the eye mixes verhungern and verhungert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verhungern and verhungert follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
verhungern
10 ch
verhungert

Why the eye confuses verhungern with verhungert

A purely visual mix-up. verhungern ([fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐn]) and verhungert ([fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐt]) 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 a single letter - n in “verhungern” becomes t in “verhungert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verhungern is recorded at frequency rank #13,723, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐn]. verhungert is at rank #28,448, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐt].

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 42171, this pair ranks #1,457,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verhungern vs verhungert

Shared letters: eghnruv. Private to "verhungern": -. Private to "verhungert": t.

"verhungern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "verhungert" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhungern ← evrhungern · vehrungern · verhhungern · verhnugern · verhugnern · verhunegrn · verhungenr · verhungernn
  • verhungert ← evrhungert · vehrungert · verhhungert · verhnugert · verhugnert · verhunegrt · verhungerrt · verhungertt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verhungern" and "verhungert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐn] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhungern" vs "verhungert" - which ranks higher?
"verhungern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,723 in our German list, against #28,448 for "verhungert". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verhungern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhungert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,457,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhungern" and "verhungert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhungern vs verwundern". 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 #1,457,452 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