verjagenvsversagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,017
“verjagen” frequency rank
#6,119
“versagen” frequency rank
51136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verjagen versagen
Definition jemanden gewaltsam vertreiben, verscheuchen nicht so funktionieren, wie es geplant war oder üblich ist

Where the eye mixes verjagen and versagen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verjagen and versagen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
verjagen
8 ch
versagen

Visual trap between verjagen and versagen

A purely visual mix-up. verjagen ([fɛɐ̯ˈjaːɡn̩]) and versagen ([fɛɐ̯ˈzaːɡn̩]) 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 - j in “verjagen” becomes s in “versagen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verjagen is recorded at frequency rank #45,017, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈjaːɡn̩]. versagen is at rank #6,119, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈzaːɡn̩].

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 51136, this pair ranks #1,147,083 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verjagen vs versagen

Shared letters: aegnrv. Private to "verjagen": j. Private to "versagen": s.

"verjagen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "versagen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verjagen ← evrjagen · vejragen · verajgen · verjaegn · verjagenn · verjaggen · verjagne · verjgaen
  • versagen ← evrsagen · verasgen · verrsagen · versaegn · versagenn · versaggen · versagne · versgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verjagen" and "versagen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈjaːɡn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈzaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verjagen" or "versagen"?
"versagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,119 in our German list, against #45,017 for "verjagen". 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 "verjagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "versagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,147,083 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verjagen" and "versagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vergaben vs verjagen". 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 #1,147,083 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