verleihtvsverletztTell them apart

Quick tell: verleiht is a verb, verletzt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#9,478
“verleiht” frequency rank
#1,275
“verletzt” frequency rank
10753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verleiht verletzt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verleihen eine Kränkung oder Beleidigung erlitten habend, psychisch von jemandem aus dem Gleichgewicht gebracht worden sein

Where the eye mixes verleiht and verletzt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
verleiht
8 ch
verletzt

Visual trap between verleiht and verletzt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verleiht is [fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯t] while verletzt is [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡st]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verleiht is recorded at frequency rank #9,478, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯t]. verletzt is at rank #1,275, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlɛt͡st].

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 10753, this pair ranks #1,973,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verleiht vs verletzt

Shared letters: elrtv. Private to "verleiht": hi. Private to "verletzt": z.

"verleiht" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "verletzt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verleihtevrleiht · velreiht · vereliht · verlehit · verleihht · verleihtt · verleith · verlieht
  • verletztevrletzt · velretzt · vereltzt · verlettz · verlettzt · verletztt · verletzzt · verleztt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verleiht" for "verletzt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verleiht" is a verb and "verletzt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verleiht" or "verletzt" show up more?
"verletzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,275 in our German list, against #9,478 for "verleiht". 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 "verleiht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verletzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,973,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verleiht" and "verletzt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vergeigt vs verleiht". 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 #1,973,499 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