verliebenvsvermiesenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,993
“verlieben” frequency rank
#42,231
“vermiesen” frequency rank
54224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlieben vermiesen
Definition anfangen, für jemanden Liebe zu empfinden; etwas reizend, nett, schön finden etwas Schönes (das jemand anderes erlebt, wie Freude, Spass oder gute Stimmung) stören/verderben

Where the eye mixes verlieben and vermiesen

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

9 ch
verlieben
9 ch
vermiesen

Look-alike desk: verlieben vs vermiesen

A purely visual mix-up. verlieben ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːbn̩]) and vermiesen ([fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩]) 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 54224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlieben is recorded at frequency rank #11,993, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːbn̩]. vermiesen is at rank #42,231, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩].

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 54224, this pair ranks #1,027,278 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verlieben vs vermiesen

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verlieben": bl. Private to "vermiesen": ms.

"verlieben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "vermiesen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlieben ← evrlieben · velrieben · verileben · verleiben · verlibeen · verliebben · verliebenn · verliebne
  • vermiesen ← evrmiesen · vemriesen · verimesen · vermeisen · vermieesn · vermiesenn · vermiesne · vermiessen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verlieben" and "vermiesen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːbn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈmiːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verlieben" or "vermiesen"?
"verlieben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,993 in our German list, against #42,231 for "vermiesen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verlieben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermiesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,027,278 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlieben" and "vermiesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbissen 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 #1,027,278 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