verleitenvsvermeidenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,451
“verleiten” frequency rank
#2,369
“vermeiden” frequency rank
30820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verleiten vermeiden
Definition jemanden zu einer Handlung veranlassen, die er von sich aus nicht gemacht hätte etwas wenn möglich nicht tun; so handeln, dass etwas möglichst nicht passiert

Where the eye mixes verleiten and vermeiden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verleiten and vermeiden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verleiten
9 ch
vermeiden

Why the eye confuses verleiten with vermeiden

A purely visual mix-up. verleiten ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩]) and vermeiden ([fɛɐ̯ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]) 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 30820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verleiten is recorded at frequency rank #28,451, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩]. vermeiden is at rank #2,369, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmaɪ̯dn̩].

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 30820, this pair ranks #1,740,441 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verleiten vs vermeiden

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verleiten": lt. Private to "vermeiden": dm.

"verleiten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "vermeiden" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verleitenevrleiten · velreiten · vereliten · verleietn · verleitenn · verleitne · verleitten · verletien
  • vermeidenevrmeiden · vemreiden · veremiden · vermedien · vermeidden · vermeidenn · vermeidne · vermeiedn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verleiten" for "vermeiden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈmaɪ̯dn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verleiten" vs "vermeiden" - which ranks higher?
"vermeiden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,369 in our German list, against #28,451 for "verleiten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "verleiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermeiden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,740,441 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verleiten" and "vermeiden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vereiteln vs verleiten". 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 #1,740,441 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