verhungernvsverlängernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,723
“verhungern” frequency rank
#9,289
“verlängern” frequency rank
23012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verhungern verlängern
Definition aufgrund von Nahrungsmangel sterben etwas (räumlich) länger machen; die (räumliche) Ausdehnung von etwas erhöhen

Where the eye mixes verhungern and verlängern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verhungern and verlängern 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
verlängern

Look-alike desk: verhungern vs verlängern

A purely visual mix-up. verhungern ([fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐn]) and verlängern ([fɛɐ̯ˈlɛŋɐn]) 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 23012, 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]. verlängern is at rank #9,289, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛŋɐn].

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 23012, this pair ranks #1,866,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verhungern vs verlängern

Shared letters: egnrv. Private to "verhungern": hu. Private to "verlängern": lä.

"verhungern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "verlängern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verhungern ← evrhungern · vehrungern · verhhungern · verhnugern · verhugnern · verhunegrn · verhungenr · verhungernn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verhungern" and "verlängern" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhʊŋɐn] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛŋɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verhungern" vs "verlängern" - which ranks higher?
"verlängern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,289 in our German list, against #13,723 for "verhungern". 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 "verhungern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlängern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,866,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verhungern" and "verlängern" 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 #1,866,874 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