verlegtenvsverletzenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,970
“verlegten” frequency rank
#6,739
“verletzen” frequency rank
41709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlegten verletzen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verlegt jemanden physisch (auch lebensgefährlich oder tödlich) verwunden

Where the eye mixes verlegten and verletzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verlegten and verletzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verlegten
9 ch
verletzen

Why the eye confuses verlegten with verletzen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verlegten is [fɛɐ̯ˈleːktn̩] while verletzen is [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡sn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41709, 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]. verletzen is at rank #6,739, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡sn̩].

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 41709, this pair ranks #1,471,411 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verlegten vs verletzen

Shared letters: elnrtv. Private to "verlegten": g. Private to "verletzen": z.

"verlegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verletzen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlegtenevrlegten · velregten · verelgten · verlegetn · verleggten · verlegtenn · verlegtne · verlegtten
  • verletzenevrletzen · velretzen · vereltzen · verletezn · verlettzen · verletzenn · verletzne · verletzzen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verlegten" and "verletzen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verlegten" is an adjective and "verletzen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verlegten" vs "verletzen" - which ranks higher?
"verletzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,739 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.

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 "verlegten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verletzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,471,411 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlegten" and "verletzen" 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 #1,471,411 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