Which to use
“verkehren” and “verwehren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,863
- “verkehren” frequency rank
- #31,351
- “verwehren” frequency rank
- 48214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verkehren | verwehren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nur mit dem Hilfsverb haben: | nicht erlauben, nicht gestatten, verbieten, versperren; jemandem etwas nicht gewähren |
Where the eye mixes verkehren and verwehren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verkehren and verwehren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses verkehren with verwehren
A purely visual mix-up. verkehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən]) and verwehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən]) 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 - k in “verkehren” becomes w in “verwehren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48214, 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]. verwehren is at rank #31,351, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən].
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 48214, this pair ranks #1,256,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verkehren vs verwehren
Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verkehren": k. Private to "verwehren": w.
"verkehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "verwehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verkehren" and "verwehren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verkehren" or "verwehren" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verkehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verwehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,256,718 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verkehren" and "verwehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwehren vs verworren". 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 #1,256,718 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.