verkehrtevsverkehrtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,765
“verkehrte” frequency rank
#35,520
“verkehrten” frequency rank
59285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verkehrte verkehrten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verkehrt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verkehrt

Where the eye mixes verkehrte and verkehrten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verkehrte runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCCV) against verkehrten's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verkehrte
10 ch
verkehrten

Look-alike desk: verkehrte vs verkehrten

A purely visual mix-up. verkehrte ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə]) and verkehrten ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “verkehrte” sits inside “verkehrten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verkehrte is recorded at frequency rank #23,765, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə]. verkehrten is at rank #35,520, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tn̩].

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 59285, this pair ranks #830,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verkehrte vs verkehrten

Shared letters: ehkrtv. Private to "verkehrte": -. Private to "verkehrten": n.

"verkehrte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "verkehrten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verkehrteevrkehrte · vekrehrte · verekhrte · verkehhrte · verkehret · verkehrrte · verkehrtte · verkehtre
  • verkehrtenevrkehrten · vekrehrten · verekhrten · verkehhrten · verkehretn · verkehrrten · verkehrtenn · verkehrtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verkehrte" and "verkehrten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verkehrte" or "verkehrten" show up more?
"verkehrte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,765 in our German list, against #35,520 for "verkehrten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verkehrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verkehrten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #830,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verkehrte" and "verkehrten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verehrter vs verkehrten". 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 #830,236 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