verlegenvsverlosenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,482
“verlegen” frequency rank
#30,842
“verlosen” frequency rank
37324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlegen verlosen
Definition eine Sache an einem Ort ablegen, an den man sich später nicht mehr erinnern kann (meist im Nachhinein benutzt: verlegt haben) einen Preis austeilen, den diejenige Person gewinnt, die das richtige/gewinnende Los gezogen/erworben hat

Where the eye mixes verlegen and verlosen

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

8 ch
verlegen
8 ch
verlosen

Why the eye confuses verlegen with verlosen

A purely visual mix-up. verlegen ([fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩]) and verlosen ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩]) 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 37324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlegen is recorded at frequency rank #6,482, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩]. verlosen is at rank #30,842, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩].

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 37324, this pair ranks #1,593,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verlegen vs verlosen

Shared letters: elnrv. Private to "verlegen": g. Private to "verlosen": os.

"verlegen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verlosen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlegen ← evrlegen · velregen · verelgen · verleegn · verlegenn · verleggen · verlegne · verlgeen
  • verlosen ← evrlosen · velrosen · verllosen · verloesn · verlosenn · verlosne · verlossen · verlsoen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verlegen" for "verlosen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈleːɡn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verlegen" or "verlosen" show up more?
"verlegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,482 in our German list, against #30,842 for "verlosen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verlegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlosen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,593,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlegen" and "verlosen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlogene vs verlosen". 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 #1,593,164 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