verliefvsverliereWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,125
“verlief” frequency rank
#12,196
“verliere” frequency rank
19321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlief verliere
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verlaufen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verlieren

Where the eye mixes verlief and verliere

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

7 ch
verlief
8 ch
verliere

Why the eye confuses verlief with verliere

A purely visual mix-up. verlief ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːf]) and verliere ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːʁə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlief is recorded at frequency rank #7,125, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːf]. verliere is at rank #12,196, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːʁə].

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 19321, this pair ranks #1,909,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verlief vs verliere

Shared letters: eilrv. Private to "verlief": f. Private to "verliere": -.

"verlief" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "verliere" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verliefevrlief · velrief · verilef · verleif · verlieff · verlife · verllief · verrlief
  • verliereevrliere · velriere · verilere · verleire · verlieer · verliree · verlliere · verrliere

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verlief" and "verliere" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːf] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈliːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verlief" or "verliere"?
"verlief" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,125 in our German list, against #12,196 for "verliere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "verlief" and "verliere" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verlief" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verliere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,909,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlief" and "verliere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verliere vs vorliege". 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 #1,909,611 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