verladenvsverlegenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,812
“verladen” frequency rank
#6,482
“verlegen” frequency rank
32294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verladen verlegen
Definition Frachtgüter oder Personen auf ein Transportmittel bringen eine Sache an einem Ort ablegen, an den man sich später nicht mehr erinnern kann (meist im Nachhinein benutzt: verlegt haben)

Where the eye mixes verladen and verlegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verladen and verlegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
verladen
8 ch
verlegen

Why the eye confuses verladen with verlegen

A purely visual mix-up. verladen ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaːdn̩]) and verlegen ([fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩]) 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 32294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verladen is recorded at frequency rank #25,812, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaːdn̩]. verlegen is at rank #6,482, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩].

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 32294, this pair ranks #1,710,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verladen vs verlegen

Shared letters: elnrv. Private to "verladen": ad. Private to "verlegen": g.

"verladen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verlegen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verladen ← evrladen · velraden · veralden · verladden · verladenn · verladne · verlaedn · verldaen
  • verlegen ← evrlegen · velregen · verelgen · verleegn · verlegenn · verleggen · verlegne · verlgeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verladen" and "verlegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaːdn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verladen" vs "verlegen" - which ranks higher?
"verlegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,482 in our German list, against #25,812 for "verladen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verladen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,710,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verladen" and "verlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vergaben vs verladen". 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 #1,710,717 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