verkehrenvsverzehrenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,863
“verkehren” frequency rank
#28,919
“verzehren” frequency rank
45782
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verkehren verzehren
Definition nur mit dem Hilfsverb haben: als Nahrung zu sich nehmen

Where the eye mixes verkehren and verzehren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verkehren and verzehren 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
verzehren

Look-alike desk: verkehren vs verzehren

A purely visual mix-up. verkehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən]) and verzehren ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈt͡seːʁən]) 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 z in “verzehren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45782, 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]. verzehren is at rank #28,919, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈt͡seːʁən].

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 45782, this pair ranks #1,341,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verkehren vs verzehren

Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verkehren": k. Private to "verzehren": z.

"verkehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verzehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verkehrenevrkehren · vekrehren · verekhren · verkehern · verkehhren · verkehrenn · verkehrne · verkehrren
  • verzehrenevrzehren · verezhren · verrzehren · verzehern · verzehhren · verzehrenn · verzehrne · verzehrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verkehren" and "verzehren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːʁən] versus [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈt͡seːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verkehren" or "verzehren"?
"verkehren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,863 in our German list, against #28,919 for "verzehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verkehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verzehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,341,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verkehren" and "verzehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwahren vs verzehren". 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 #1,341,381 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