verirrtevsverwirrtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,815
“verirrte” frequency rank
#4,665
“verwirrt” frequency rank
52480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verirrte verwirrt
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verirrt geistig nicht ganz auf der Höhe seiend, nicht wissend, was zu tun ist; durcheinander

Where the eye mixes verirrte and verwirrt

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

8 ch
verirrte
8 ch
verwirrt

Look-alike desk: verirrte vs verwirrt

A purely visual mix-up. verirrte ([fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁtə]) and verwirrt ([fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁt]) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verirrte is recorded at frequency rank #47,815, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁtə]. verwirrt is at rank #4,665, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁt].

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 52480, this pair ranks #1,095,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verirrte vs verwirrt

Shared letters: eirtv. Private to "verirrte": -. Private to "verwirrt": w.

"verirrte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "verwirrt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verirrteevrirrte · veirrrte · verirret · verirrtte · verirte · verirtre · verrirrte · verrirte
  • verwirrtevrwirrt · veriwrrt · verrwirrt · verwirrtt · verwirt · verwirtr · verwrirt · verwwirrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verirrte" for "verwirrt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʔɪʁtə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verirrte" or "verwirrt"?
"verwirrt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,665 in our German list, against #47,815 for "verirrte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verirrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwirrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,095,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verirrte" and "verwirrt" 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 #1,095,148 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