verleihenvsverliehenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,415
“verleihen” frequency rank
#5,662
“verliehen” frequency rank
13077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verleihen verliehen
Definition etwas zeitweise jemandem überlassen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verleihen

Where the eye mixes verleihen and verliehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
verleihen
9 ch
verliehen

Look-alike desk: verleihen vs verliehen

A purely visual mix-up. verleihen ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯ən]) and verliehen ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (ei ↔ ie) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verleihen is recorded at frequency rank #7,415, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯ən]. verliehen is at rank #5,662, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːən].

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 13077, this pair ranks #1,960,264 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verleihen vs verliehen

Shared letters: ehilnrv. Private to "verleihen": -. Private to "verliehen": -.

"verleihen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verliehen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verleihenevrleihen · velreihen · verelihen · verlehien · verleiehn · verleihenn · verleihhen · verleihne
  • verliehenevrliehen · velriehen · verilehen · verlieehn · verliehenn · verliehhen · verliehne · verliheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verleihen" and "verliehen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯ən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈliːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verleihen" vs "verliehen" - which ranks higher?
"verliehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,662 in our German list, against #7,415 for "verleihen". 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 "verleihen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verliehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,960,264 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verleihen" and "verliehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verliehen vs vermiesen". 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 #1,960,264 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