verkündenvsverkürzenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,195
“verkünden” frequency rank
#16,583
“verkürzen” frequency rank
28778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verkünden verkürzen
Definition öffentlich sagen in der Länge kleiner machen

Where the eye mixes verkünden and verkürzen

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

9 ch
verkünden
9 ch
verkürzen

Look-alike desk: verkünden vs verkürzen

A purely visual mix-up. verkünden ([fɛɐ̯ˈkʏndn̩]) and verkürzen ([fɛɐ̯ˈkʏʁt͡sn̩]) 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 28778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verkünden is recorded at frequency rank #12,195, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkʏndn̩]. verkürzen is at rank #16,583, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈkʏʁt͡sn̩].

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 28778, this pair ranks #1,778,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verkünden vs verkürzen

Shared letters: eknrvü. Private to "verkünden": d. Private to "verkürzen": z.

"verkünden" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verkürzen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verkünden" for "verkürzen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈkʏndn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈkʏʁt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verkünden" or "verkürzen" show up more?
"verkünden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,195 in our German list, against #16,583 for "verkürzen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verkünden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verkürzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,778,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verkünden" and "verkürzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verkünden vs verwundern". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,778,776 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