verleitenvsverteiltenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#28,451
“verleiten” frequency rank
#16,588
“verteilten” frequency rank
45039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verleiten verteilten
Definition jemanden zu einer Handlung veranlassen, die er von sich aus nicht gemacht hätte Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verteilt

Where the eye mixes verleiten and verteilten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verleiten runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against verteilten's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verleiten
10 ch
verteilten

Visual trap between verleiten and verteilten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verleiten is [fɛɐ̯ˈlaɪ̯tn̩] while verteilten is [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯ltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45039, 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]. verteilten is at rank #16,588, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯ltn̩].

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 45039, this pair ranks #1,366,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verleiten vs verteilten

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

"verleiten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verteilten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verleitenevrleiten · velreiten · vereliten · verleietn · verleitenn · verleitne · verleitten · verletien
  • verteiltenevrteilten · veretilten · verrteilten · verteiletn · verteillten · verteiltenn · verteiltne · verteiltten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verleiten" and "verteilten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verleiten" is a verb and "verteilten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "verleiten" or "verteilten" show up more?
"verteilten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,588 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.

What to do next

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 "verteilten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,366,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verleiten" and "verteilten" 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 #1,366,496 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