verkehrenvsverwahrenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,863
“verkehren” frequency rank
#47,094
“verwahren” frequency rank
63957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verkehren verwahren
Definition nur mit dem Hilfsverb haben: (etwas für jemanden) vorübergehend in den eigenen sicheren Besitz übernehmen (nicht als Eigentum)

Where the eye mixes verkehren and verwahren

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

9 ch
verkehren
9 ch
verwahren

Visual trap between verkehren and verwahren

A purely visual mix-up. verkehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən]) and verwahren ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən]) 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 63957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verkehren is recorded at frequency rank #16,863, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən]. verwahren is at rank #47,094, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən].

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 63957, this pair ranks #658,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verkehren vs verwahren

Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verkehren": k. Private to "verwahren": aw.

"verkehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verwahren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verkehrenevrkehren · vekrehren · verekhren · verkehern · verkehhren · verkehrenn · verkehrne · verkehrren
  • verwahrenevrwahren · verawhren · verrwahren · verwahern · verwahhren · verwahrenn · verwahrne · verwahrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verkehren" and "verwahren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verkehren" or "verwahren" show up more?
"verkehren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,863 in our German list, against #47,094 for "verwahren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verkehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwahren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #658,380 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verkehren" and "verwahren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwahren vs Vorwahlen". 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 #658,380 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