verlegtenvsverlesenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: verlegten is a adjective, verlesen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verlegten” is an adjective and “verlesen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,970
“verlegten” frequency rank
#19,753
“verlesen” frequency rank
54723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlegten verlesen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verlegt einen Fehler beim Lesen machen; etwas falsch lesen; ein oder mehrere Worte beim Lesen verwechseln

Where the eye mixes verlegten and verlesen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verlegten runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against verlesen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verlegten
8 ch
verlesen

Look-alike desk: verlegten vs verlesen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verlegten is [fɛɐ̯ˈleːktn̩] while verlesen is [fɛɐ̯ˈleːzn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlegten is recorded at frequency rank #34,970, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈleːktn̩]. verlesen is at rank #19,753, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈleːzn̩].

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 54723, this pair ranks #1,007,648 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verlegten vs verlesen

Shared letters: elnrv. Private to "verlegten": gt. Private to "verlesen": s.

"verlegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verlesen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlegten ← evrlegten · velregten · verelgten · verlegetn · verleggten · verlegtenn · verlegtne · verlegtten
  • verlesen ← evrlesen · velresen · verelsen · verleesn · verlesenn · verlesne · verlessen · verllesen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verlegten" for "verlesen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verlegten" is an adjective and "verlesen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verlegten" vs "verlesen" - which ranks higher?
"verlesen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,753 in our German list, against #34,970 for "verlegten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verlegten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,007,648 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlegten" and "verlesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlegten vs vorlegte". 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 #1,007,648 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