verirrenvsverirrteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: verirren is a verb, verirrte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verirren” is a verb and “verirrte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,924
“verirren” frequency rank
#47,815
“verirrte” frequency rank
88739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verirren verirrte
Definition sich ungewollt vom richtigen Weg entfernen und sich nicht mehr auskennen; durch Zufall, ohne Absicht an eine bestimmte Stelle kommen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verirrt

Where the eye mixes verirren and verirrte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verirren (CVCVCCVC) and verirrte (CVCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
verirren
8 ch
verirrte

Why the eye confuses verirren with verirrte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verirren is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁən] while verirrte is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁtə]. 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 88739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verirren is recorded at frequency rank #40,924, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁən]. verirrte is at rank #47,815, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁtə].

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 88739, this pair ranks #64,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verirren vs verirrte

Shared letters: eirv. Private to "verirren": n. Private to "verirrte": t.

"verirren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "verirrte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verirrenevrirren · veirrren · veriren · verirern · verirrenn · verirrne · verriren · verrirren
  • verirrteevrirrte · veirrrte · verirret · verirrtte · verirte · verirtre · verrirrte · verrirte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verirren" and "verirrte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verirren" is a verb and "verirrte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verirren" vs "verirrte" - which ranks higher?
"verirren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,924 in our German list, against #47,815 for "verirrte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "verirren" and "verirrte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verirren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verirrte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verirren" and "verirrte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verirrte vs verwirrter". 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 #64,961 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