verleitenvsverteilenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,451
“verleiten” frequency rank
#4,573
“verteilen” frequency rank
33024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verleiten verteilen
Definition jemanden zu einer Handlung veranlassen, die er von sich aus nicht gemacht hätte mehreren Personen einen Teil von etwas geben

Where the eye mixes verleiten and verteilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
verleiten
9 ch
verteilen

Why the eye confuses verleiten with verteilen

A purely visual mix-up. verleiten ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩]) and verteilen ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33024, 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]. verteilen is at rank #4,573, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən].

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 33024, this pair ranks #1,694,929 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verleiten vs verteilen

Shared letters: eilnrtv. Private to "verleiten": -. Private to "verteilen": -.

"verleiten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verteilen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verleitenevrleiten · velreiten · vereliten · verleietn · verleitenn · verleitne · verleitten · verletien
  • verteilenevrteilen · veretilen · verrteilen · verteieln · verteilenn · verteillen · verteilne · vertelien

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verleiten" and "verteilen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verleiten" or "verteilen" show up more?
"verteilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,573 in our German list, against #28,451 for "verleiten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verleiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verteilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,694,929 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verleiten" and "verteilen" 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 #1,694,929 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